Resources

• Daily Bread Food Bank
• Who's Hungry 2006

Who's Hungry 2006 Profile is a research report by the Daily Bread Food Bank the profile of hunger in the Greater Toronto Area in 2006. People with disabilities are among the faces of hunger profiled in the report. The report makes recommendations about what should be done to improve the Ontario Disability Support Program, including improving the benefit rates and access to the Ontario Disability Support Program.

• Street Health
• Failing the Homeless

Full report

Summary report

This report describes the experiences of homeless people with disabilities who could not access the ODSP. It identifies key barriers and delays in the ODSP system and makes a number of recommendations to help ensure that homeless people with disabilities can access the ODSP benefits they are entitled to. It also highlights gaps in the overall disability benefits system.

• Ombudsman Ontario

Losing the Waiting Game

This report by Ombudsman Ontario examines the impact of the delays in processing applications for support by the Ministry of Community and Social Services’ Ontario Disability Support Program and the impact of a provincial regulation which limited retroactive benefit payments to four months. “My investigation has found that thousands of individuals with disabilities were deprived of benefits, which they were otherwise rightfully entitled to … Many of those affected faced months of undeserved financial hardship and in the end lost out on much needed monies, which should have been in their pockets to pay for food, shelter and other necessities of life. I would urge the Minister to act quickly and to find the necessary means to repay these individuals the monies which they should have received in the first place, had it not been for the Ministry’s delay”

• Denial by Design, Income Security Advocacy Centre, January, 2003

While the financial and employment supports associated with the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) surpass those found in Ontario's welfare program, large numbers of disabled people are simply unable to access them. Individuals are caught in an exceedingly complex application process of lengthy medical reports, tight timelines, delays and unfair, unaccountable adjudication. No supports are built into the process – individuals are on their own. It is a system that would be difficult for anyone to navigate. For people with special needs, the barriers are often insurmountable.

Download 'Denial by Design' as a Word Document (prepared by ISAC).

• Summary of ODSP forums 2002

Report on the 16 community forums held across Ontario in 2002, where the main problems with ODSP were documented, and recommendations were developed which the founding members of the Coalition presented to the Ontario government in January 2003.

• Barriers to ODSP: Experiences of People with Mental Health and Addictions, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

This report has been prepared to highlight the impact of ODSP barriers on the clients we serve. The first half of this paper will focus on the importance of adequate income for the well-being and quality of life of those with a serious mental illness or addiction problem. The second half will examine the problems associated with the manner in which the income support programs are administered.