Disabled woman's benefits cut off within days of giving birth

Navigating the social assistance minefield leaves disability program recipients frustrated and frightened - and often penniless

By: Pat Daley

  April 28/00 - An Ontario woman is finding out the hard way that relying on government financial support for people with disabilities often means maneouvering through a minefield of half-answers, vague policies, and anonymous caseworkers.
  M.A. King is not new to the system of disability supports. A tobogganing accident almost 14 years ago left her paralysed for six months. It took her two more years to "walk like a normal person," and she still lives in a constant state of excruciating pain. But her living situation has changed - last November she married. Now, with two-week old baby Madeline to care for, her benefits have been cut off.
 

King is finding out that, despite the good intentions, ODSP still operates like the welfare system that can leave people with the sense of walking into a trap

  Many people like King were happy when the provincial government introduced its new Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) two years ago. Former community and social services minister Janet Ecker declared at the time, "ODSP removes people with disabilities from the welfare system, where they should never have been in the first place."
  King is finding out that, despite the good intentions, it still operates like the welfare system that can leave people with the sense of walking into a trap. In fact, a Ministry of Community and Social Services (MCSS) spokesperson contacted for this article was clear: "Generally speaking, social assistance is a program of last resort." She was talking about ODSP.
  King knew that her new husband's income would be considered hers as well for eligibility purposes. As a self-employed industrial model maker, he earned a net income of just more than $12,000 last year. It wasn't going to make that much difference to her benefits of about $900 a month once the baby was born.
  What she wasn't told by her ODSP office was that RRSPs are considered liquid assets. Over the last 15 years, her husband had managed to put aside about $28,000 - $20,000 over the allowable limit for a two-parent family with one child. Get rid of the money, she was told, or lose your benefits.
 

M.A. King, photographed at a baby shower in March 2000, lost her disability benefits within days of giving birth April 15

  The couple had planned to use the RRSP as a down payment on a house. King was searching frantically when she went into labour several weeks early. With a new baby, the house hunting is on hold. Her benefits have been cut off. Her husband is starting to cash in the RRSPs to cover their rent and other daily living expenses - including about $95 a month in painkillers and anti-inflammatories that had been covered by King's ODSP drug card. Their down payment is being whittled away.
  Owning a home is permitted under ODSP. But King says she can't get a straight answer about whether making a down payment is an acceptable use of her husband's RRSP. In other words, if they use the money that way, will her benefits be restored?
  Up until December, King had her own caseworker who would have been able to answer that question for her. As Straight Goods has reported before, ODSP has switched over to a team system. She spoke to one person who has going to get back to her but hasn't to date. King recently tried again and is now waiting to hear from yet another worker.
  Straight Goods couldn't get a straight answer either. MCSS spokesperson Suzanne Bezuk told us, "It's not really possible to definitively answer that question. Decisions are made by a worker." Informed that King has been trying unsuccessfully to get information from her ODSP office, Bezuk did a little searching of her own. She called back to say, "If somebody doesn't feel the team approach is working, they can ask to speak with the manager. If they're still not satisfied, they can ask to speak to the ODSP program manager for the region."
  Not yet 20 years old when her accident happened, King didn't have enough years in the work force to qualify for Canada Pension Plan (CPP) disability benefits. Even if she had, answers would not be any easier to get.
  Straight Goods spoke to a CPP disability recipient who did not want her name used. She also suffers from chronic pain. She can work occasionally, but doesn't want to take the leap away from benefits because her condition can be degenerative. She's been trying to find out if there is a limit to how much she can earn and still be eligible for benefits that amount to less than $800 a month.
  "In the past, you could call up and ask to speak to a caseworker and get information directly," she says. "Now when you call, you're told you can't speak to anyone but the person who answers phone." That person is usually only able to give general information. And, she tells Straight Goods, advocacy associations she has consulted advised her to get someone else to ask questions on her behalf. Other people have found that their questions sparked an investigation of their file and elimination of their benefits.
  Nancy Lawand is Director of Program Policy for the Canada Pension Plan. She admits they know people are reluctant to ask questions about work and eligibility because they're afraid of losing their benefits. For that reason, she says, the government is drafting policy around how much recipients can earn without risking their benefits. There should be an announcement sometime later this year.
  In the meantime, no matter what system they're in, disability benefit recipients are forced to play a game of Russian roulette with their life choices. As M.A. King says, "They either won't tell you the consequences or say, 'when it happens, we'll tell you.'" She's still trying to decide if the stability of owning a home is worth the risk of being penniless.

Pat Daley is a freelance writer and editor in Athlone in Simcoe County, Ontario.

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