Income Support Program for Persons with Mental Disabilities

The Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) is only available to people who live in Ontario and is a means-tested income support that is paid to persons with a disability. Persons living with mental disabilities may qualify for ODSP but there are certain eligibility criteria that one has to meet before being accepted (Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services, 2012). In a news article ‘Ontario commission calls for integrated welfare program to include the disabled and remove barriers to work’, Monsebraaten (2012) stated that in 2009-2010, about 60% of new applicants applying for ODSP were suffering from mental illness. Since not everyone who applies can be accepted, I would assume that those who do not qualify or are not accepted to receive ODSP often apply for Ontario Works (OW). OW provides benefits to persons who are in need of financial assistance and who are currently looking for any type of employment or temporary work. OW also provides employment assistance to assist clients with acquiring the needed skills to find a job (Canadian Mental Health Association, n.d.). Throughout this blog post, I will be discussing recent budget cuts to social support programs and the effects to those who receive income support.

Hick says that under the conservative ideology, “they argue that private social welfare is better – it reduces social services and targets social program benefits to only the very needy” (Hick, 2007, p. 58). I believe that our Ontario government follows a conservative ideology and that is the reason for recent cuts to various social programs. In the news article ‘Ontario budget 2012: Welfare rate freeze really a cut, activists say’, A Toronto woman was shocked to hear of budget plans to remove valuable benefits that include the community start-up and maintenance benefit (Monsebraaten, 2012). As of January 2013, these benefits will no longer be available for those who are on OW (Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, 2012). I believe that this will have a huge impact on those persons with mental disabilities and will affect their lives greatly. I did my college placement at a mental health hospital – inpatient unit and saw first-hand how helpful those benefits were for those people who deal with mental health problems. Many long term care patients that were getting ready to be discharged from the hospital received OW and counted on the community start-up program to help pay for their move into a new place.  It was the help they needed to get back on their feet. Sadly, I believe that many people struggle emotionally and financially with the transition and not being able to access such helpful benefits such as those described above, will present even more obstacles to them making a successful adjustment back into the community.

People with mental illnesses often encounter many challenges and barriers in life which include poverty, social stigma, a lack of affordable housing and limited employment opportunities (Wilton, 2004). Also, I believe that in Ontario many people struggle to survive on income support programs and often do not receive enough money to have all their basic needs met such as food, clothing and shelter. Therefore, they live in poverty. In the news article, ‘Ontario budget 2012: Welfare rate freeze really a cut, activists say’ Monsebraaten interviewed a women who has been looking for work for over 3 years and struggled to survive on her OW check, which $599 a month. The woman interviewed talked about her rent being more than what she received from OW and the fact that she needed to access other services such as a soup kitchens and food banks. With no money left for transportation, she is often walked everywhere to get to the places she needed to be (Monsebraaten, 2012). Unfortunately, I think that this is a reality for many people including people with mental health problems who receive income support.

In conclusion persons with mental disabilities often receive income support from either ODSP or OW. Conservative ideologies are the driving force of cut backs in Ontario.  These cuts to income support programs will affect many people including people with mental illnesses. This marginalized and very vulnerable population face many challenges in dealing with their mental illness and without these programs to assist with even their basic needs they must now face even more barriers throughout their lives. 

Kristen

References

Canadian Mental Health Association. (n.d.). Ontario Works. Retrieved December 2, 2012, from http://www.ontario.cmha.ca/services_and_supports.asp?cID=7581

Hick, S. (2007). Social welfare in Canada: Understanding income security. Toronto, ON:

Thompson Educational Publishing.

Monsebraaten, L. (2012). Ontario budget 2012: Welfare rate freeze really a cut, activists say. Retrieved December 2, 2012 from http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1152810--ontario-budget-2012-welfare-rate-freeze-really-a-cut-activists-say

Monsebraaten, L. (2012). Ontario commission calls for integrated welfare program to include the disabled and remove barriers to work. Retrieved from December 2, 2012, from http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1276481--ontario-commission-calls-for-integrated-welfare-program-including-for-disabled-that-removes-barriers-to-work

Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP). (2012). Cross-Ontario Events- Fighting the Cut to Community Start Up. Retrieved December 2, 2012, from http://www.ocap.ca/node/1016

Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services. (2012). Income Support: Disability/health eligibility. Retrieved December 2, 2012, from http://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/en/mcss/programs/social/odsp/income_support/eligibility/disability_Health.aspx

Wilton, R. (2004, January). Putting policy into practice? Poverty and people with serious mental illness. Social Science & Medicine, 58 (1), 25-39.

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