(no subject)

[waterspyder]

Started as an observation...

  Originally my comments were fueled by the apparent ingratitude of some people at the ODSP office today. But I realize, there is a ort of social assistance culture of "never enough:"

So today I picked up my new bus pass. The Community Pass. It allows people with disabilties to ride in a very cost-efficient manner. I can certainly support the initiative, trying to get otherwise potentially housebound people out and into the community. Not to mention for people with fixed and low incomes, this makes life more manageable. I had to pay for the new ID, but frankly, the $35 I paid for the ID and the monthly EXPRESS pass was a steal. It made me giddy. Yes, I have had a little extra cash lately, but my contracted just ended and I'm not going to turn down a little extra assistance. As long as the government assesses me to be below the poverty line, I will keep accepting assistance.

But then the buzzkill hit. I had to go to the ODSP office to drop off my forms (you have to do it in person or they get lost. Ask anyone in the system. It's true!). So a woman beside starts a conversation about the new bus pass. She is upset because the office still won't cover the full cost of the bus pass. WHAT? The city puts forth an initiative which makes your bus pass over $40 cheaper, and you're UPSET because someone else isn't picking up the tab?? I has happy I got to save $40 a month. I highly doubt the purpose of the disability program was to cover *everything*. 

When I am not working I have more than enough to pay for food, shelter, internet, TV and basic living. I could make life changes and flip some of that stuff around, or trade cable for a cell phone (you get the idea). I use the STEP program to upgrade that living so that I can go out and stuff. I consider my standard of living to be fully adequate. 

So back to the people in the office. "They don't give me enough to eat" "They don't pay for my satellite dish" "They cut off my cellphone" "they reduced my food allowance under the new system""They don't give me enough for rent". Seriously. The government sets up a program so you won't DIE and you are upset because you can't figure out how to manage on $1000/month (give or take). 

$12,000/year isn't fun to live on, but it's definitely possible to do it.

Comments

[panthertriad.livejournal.com]

Mmm.. I remember the good old poverty days... Though I ditched both the cable and the cellphone..

A box of Mr. Noodles and a bag of frozen vegetables works out to about $.70 a meal and will keep you alive.. not well.. but will keep you alive...:P

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

I mean, I eat real food. When I'm not working it means I have to make meals at home and can almost never eat out. I do remember the ramen and frozen veggies days though lolol

I also remember your food paste. Ugh.

[simply-fiendish.livejournal.com]

" I had to go to the ODSP office to drop off my forms (you have to do it in person or they get lost. Ask anyone in the system. It's true!)."

Oh they still manage to screw things up when you drop the paper work off in person.

Heard one woman bitch how her baby cannot get decent formula because smokes cost too much and social assistance won't give her the money to properly feed her baby.
WTF?! My god woman! Are you on anything?

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

LOL I meant
if you mail them in it's like 95% chance they'll get lost.
if you drop them in the slot at the counter it's a 60% chance they'll get lost
if you take them in, hand them to the lady at the counter, have her stamp them and give you copies, it's a 10% chance they'll get lost (but at least that way you have the proof you "did too" hand them in)

I know it can get tricky when there's kids involved (I'm sure you know way better than I), but I gave up a lot of things, I'm pretty sure you have too. I think people on Disability should have to take a "Life Priorities couse". Okay, some people would think it was dumb, but seriously, the number of people who are like "I missed rent because my cellphone bill was too high" or "I can't buy fresh fruits and vegetables because I can only afford food or cigarettes" is appalling. I think the worst experience I had was being solicited for drugs while waiting for the elevator to leave the Disability office. Hello? Is that really a good use of the "not enough money".

[corradus.livejournal.com]

Well, I dunno. You and I had a conversation recently and if you remember my comments at the time they went something along the lines of "Umm, I just got handed a bed worth 6-bills large, the first bed I have been able to sleep in in over a decade, so I am not gonna rock the boat by asking for more...".

See, for me, I have allowed society's belief that my 'condition' is a result of moral and behavioral laxity to seep into my own consciousness, and thus I don't ask for things because I don't think I deserve them, because I honestly believe if I was a better, stronger and more resolute person I wouldn't be on ODSP in the first place. It doesn't help I suppose that periodically a particularly bitchy former roomate pops her head up and announces to the world in general that "He's on disability because he's lazy..." or that my favorite talk radio venue still sees obesity as a matter of how many potato chips I scharf down in a day or the late night health shows say "All you have to do is wanna..."

So I don't ask for more, WON'T ask for more. And I can usually do okay more or less....until December rolls around, or I need a new pair of pants. ODSP doesn't see clothing as a neccessity. Maybe one day when I lose both pairs of pants to entropy I'll go down to their offices in my underwear and see how neccessary they think it is....but I digress.

I do know that in the past it hasn't been enough, especially when travel is limited to you and you can't get around to find deals. Bringing groceries home on the bus is usually not a good idea anyways...

Now mind you, if I eliminated gaming from my budget utterly, I could save on average about 200 - 300 bucks a year or so (depending on publishing schedules), but honestly, I'm not gonna. So I deserve to suffer I guess. I am not really complaining...not that much, not that loudly.

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

We all hvae our vices, but at least we admit them.

I've always had to bring groceries home on the bus (or walk the ten minutes with them from the store). I'd love not to, but I haven't mastered the telekinetic powers to levitate them home yet.

[kruszer.livejournal.com]

12,000 would be nice. On Welfare we're lucky if we get a full $6,000. :(

[kali-kali.livejournal.com]

YES YES YES. I completely agree with a Life Priorities/Money Management course - not just for people on Disability, but for people on Welfare and any other government assistance programs - I'd include OSAP here too, because I don't know where so many students (who get the same full amount of OSAP as I do) always seem to lack money, while I don't, despite getting the same amount of OSAP as them. It is amazing how many people out there don't know how to budget. It may not look to the casual observer that I have a budget, but rest assured I do. It's just very flexible, since I know what my financial situation is for months in advance, so I know how and what I can spend, what my limits are, when I need to make sure I have jobs by during the summer, and so on.

If more people knew how to budget their money properly, everyone would be better off.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

Would it help if I pointed out that the people who aren't complaining are probably not getting noticed? (I mean, that's even leaving aside the even more common culture of "Oh look, we're strangers in a room doing something we'd rather not be doing, let's bitch about why we're here." That one, I can guarantee you, stretches beyond social assistance.)

[torrain.livejournal.com]

Why only people on disability? It seems kind of short-sighted to only insist that people your money is going to should be taught useful life skills.

Mom told me once about a early-twenty-something who came into the bank one day to pay her credit card bill:

"Hi, I'd like to get this bill paid." (brandishes credit card bill)
"Alright. Do you have an account with this branch, or will you be paying by cash or cheque?"
"...I'm sorry?"
"How will you be giving us the money to pay the bill?"
(blank incomprehension, followed by slowly dawning horror)

'cause you know, the credit card companies will approve practically anything if it says "student" on the application, and all she'd ever been told was that you went to the bank and your credit card bill would get paid.

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

I am almost positive that the new curriculum in high schools forces students to attend and pass a "Life management" course, which I think covers the basics of budgeting, basic home maintenance and some other basic life skills. How well students pay attention, I can't say, but it's one change to the curriculum that I approve of.

The downside is that it is likely taught differently in different schools to varying degrees of utility.

I personally believe that everyone should have these skills, but it's a lot easier to get away with poor money management when there is more of it around.

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

Without trying to belittle your experiences, a lot of other students are not receiving the same amount of assistance from their parents as you are. I could have a mistaken impression, but I definitely got the idea that your parents pay for a lot of necessities via your credit card bill and cover your cell phone. It's a lot different knowing that if you run out of money, your parents cannot help you (I did the first three years of my degree without OSAP eligibility or ODSP. If I ran out of money from my full/part-time jobs, I was screwed. It's a great motivator to plan ahead).

Conversely I also know students who have their entire complement of bills paid by their parents for the entirity of their University career and they don't have enough money either.

[kali-kali.livejournal.com]

You do have a mistaken impression. My parents do pay for my cellphone (which is not a necessity anyways), but that is the only regular expense they pay. They pay for products related to my skin sensitivity (about $40 every two months), medications (maybe $30 every six months) and trips home, but other than that, everything is up to me. Anything else I put on my credit card such as Internet purchases, I have to pay them back for. Food, tuition, rent, other expenses... all up to me, via jobs or OSAP.

I've worked out budgets for how to live on strictly OSAP (provided you get the full amount possible), and it is absolutely, perfectly, doable without starving, and with the possibility to eat and live healthily as well, with a few luxuries even. Add in a part-time job and/or minimal parental support, and you're even better off. The key is knowing how to manage it.