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Poverty Fact Sheet #3

Produced by The Urban Poverty Consortium of Waterloo Region October 11, 2000

Definitions of Disability
People with disabilities face limits or barriers to activities of daily living. These limitations can be due to a physical, developmental, cognitive or mental health condition. Disabilities can be present at birth or as the result of a specific event, such as a car accident. Diagnosis of a mental or physical illness can occur at any point in a person's life. Disabilities can be short-term, long-term or permanent.

For the purposes of the 1996 Census, Statistics Canada looked at persons with long-term disabilities or handicaps that limited the kind or amount of activity that a person could do. Using this definition, 40,265 people in Waterloo Region, or 10.05% of the population, are considered to have disabilities. This compares to 2,789,930 Canadians who have disabilities, or 9.96% of the population.[1]

Poverty and Persons with Disabilities
Statistics Canada's Low Income Cut-off, or LICO, measures the amount of money required to live and participate as a Canadian citizen. A person or family is considered to be living in poverty if their income falls below the LICO. Other methods of measuring poverty include the Canadian Council on Social Development Low-Income Lines and the Market Basket Measure(MBM). This series of fact sheets uses the LICO, which has been adjusted for community size.

People with long-term limitations have a greater chance of living below the LICO. The maximum benefit payable under the Province of Ontario's Disability Support Program (ODSP) to a single person with a disability is $930.00 per month - $314.00 below the LICO. Table Two shows that the poverty rate for persons with disabilities living in Waterloo Region is 23.42%, higher than the poverty rate for the total population of 14.30%. Also, persons with disabilities are more likely than other groups in the population to experience a longer duration of poverty.[2]

Poverty rates among people with disabilities may vary by disability - physical, developmental, cognitive or mental health - with certain groups experiencing a higher poverty rate. However, the Census does not reflect the nature of the disability.[3] The population sample for the 1996 Census included non-institutional residents only. As a result, the data does not reflect poverty rates for persons with disabilities who live in institutions, including group homes.[4]

Barriers to Prosperity
Previous fact sheets have examined some of the factors that might contribute to poverty. For persons with disabilities, some of these factors include:

• workplace barriers: employment rates are closely linked to poverty rates and people with disabilities may face major obstacles in entering or remaining in the work force. These obstacles can depend as much upon the employer as they do upon the person with the disability.[5]
• access to education and training: level of education or skill training is an important determinant of poverty. According to local agencies that work with people with disabilities, educational and training resources are not equal in their accessibility or ability to respond to individuals with special needs.
• potential loss of health benefits and income supports: in Survival-of-the-Fittest Employment Policy, Sherri Torjman noted that income support programs for people with disabilities often do not allow recipients the flexibility to earn an income and still retain a basic level of support.[6] The amount of income a person with disabilities is able to earn and still remain eligible for government supports usually does not bring them above the LICO, yet there is a real need to retain coverage for medications and other medical supports.[7]
• homelessness: according to the Report of the Provincial Task Force on Homelessness, as many as one-third of people who are homeless suffer from a serious mental illness.[8] Under the Ontario Disability Support Program, the maximum monthly benefit payable to a single person who is homeless and disabled is $516.00, far below the monthly LICO for a single person of $1,244.00 (see Table One).
• family status: people living alone are more likely to be living in poverty[9] and people with disabilities stand a greater chance of living on their own than people without disabilities.[10]

As Table Three shows, family status plays a significant role with regard to poverty and people with disabilities. Unattached individuals with disabilities living in Waterloo Region experience over three times the poverty rate of families, where one family member has a disability.

Women with Disabilities
The lives of women with disabilities are very different from those of women without disabilities. Women with disabilities who are parents are more likely to be lone-parents than non-disabled women. Sole-support parents are one of the groups at risk of living in poverty.[11]

Women with disabilities also have different experiences than men with disabilities. For women with disabilities, participation in the labor force is no guarantee of financial security. Typically, women with disabilities earn less than men with disabilities or non-disabled women and are more likely to experience interruptions in employment.[12] As a result, concerns over retaining coverage for medical necessities may be more acute for women with disabilities than for men with disabilities.

As is shown by the data in Table Four, women in Waterloo Region who have limitations on activity experience a higher poverty rate than women without disabilities or men with disabilities. Poverty rates for the three groups are higher for Canada than for Waterloo Region but the trend is the same, with a higher percentage of women with disabilities living below the Low Income Cut-off.

Our Stories
The following are stories from people with disabilities who live in Waterloo Region and who must cope with the realities of poverty.

"I started a life three thousand miles away from my family and friends. I had a car accident shortly after and started a whole new life trying to cope with psychological disorders. Stubbornness and shame kept me away from my family ... When you have to wait for disability to kick in and your pills cost hundreds of dollars, you end up having to choose between your rent or your pills. Most people choose to pay rent and think they can go without their pills until the money kicks in. They then end up back in the hospital and have to start all over again ... I believe they should have a drug card available to anyone with a mental disorder who would not be able to get their pills otherwise. Without these pills the people are in a lot of trouble. Sometimes the drug card alone would help to keep people off assistance.

"My life is one that I chose to start with, but it has turned into a nightmare from time to time. Little problems to other people can be a catastrophe to me ... It looks to me like they give you very little money on purpose to keep you away from society, perpetuating the belief that you might make other people crazy with your disease ... Being housebound can add to your disorder making you more depressed and more self-conscious about what people think of you. Having to wear old used clothing that looks like hell and settling for a lousy haircut because you can't afford anything else is demeaning to anyone."[13]

"I was born with cerebral palsy and a mild visual impairment. By age 13 I had 28 operations to address these physical and visual issues. School for me was always a bit difficult. I was in special ed classes all through elementary school and received resource support in high school. When I was young, teachers told my parents that I may not even be able to learn enough to be literate. But I fooled them!

"I went to college and got a diploma in recreation leadership. I got a job after college as a phys ed consultant with a school board where I planned adaptive programs for special needs children. I started taking university courses at Brock around that time and I eventually quit my job to attend university full time. During university, I developed Crohn's disease and this slowed me down for almost a year and a half, but I did eventually complete my degree.

"I looked for work for almost two years but was never hired anywhere. I felt that employers never looked beyond my physical disability to find out whether I could really do the job. Since I was an adult, I have been eligible to collect Family Benefits (now ODSP), but that is very little money to live on. I never have enough money. So I am now ... at Laurier, hoping that this will lead to me eventually being financially independent."[14]

References

1. Statistics Canada, 1996, 1996 Census (custom tabulations).<back>
2. David P. Ross, Katherine J. Scott & Peter J. Smith (2000). The Canadian Fact Book on Poverty, Canadian Council on Social Development, pg.120.<back>
3. Kevin K. Lee (2000). Urban Poverty in Canada: A Statistical Profile. Canadian Council on Social Development, p.110.<back>
4. Statistics Canada, 1996, 1996 Census.<back>
5. Kevin K. Lee (2000). Urban Poverty in Canada: A Statistical Profile. Canadian Council on Social Development, p.41.<back>
6. Sherri Torjman (2000). Survival-of-the-Fittest Employment Policy, Caledon Institute of Social Policy, April, p.28.<back>
7. Achievement in Motion, GROW Business Plan (2000), pg 5. <back>
8. Report of the Provincial Task Force on Homelessness (October 1998) pg. 4.<back>
9. Kevin K. Lee (2000). Urban Poverty in Canada: A Statistical Profile. Canadian Council on Social Development, p.41.<back>
10. Gail Fawcett (2000). Bringing Down the Barriers: The Labour Market and Women with Disabilities in Ontario, Canadian Council on Social Development, p.7.<back>
11. Ibid, pg. 7. <back>
12. Ibid, pg. 14. <back>
13. Achievement in Motion, Personal Stories File (September 2000). <back>
14. The Urban Poverty Consortium of Waterloo Region, Personal Stories file (September 2000).<back>

Poverty Fact Sheet Series

1. What is Poverty?
2. Immigrants (New Canadians)
3. People who are disabled
4. Seniors
5. Working Poor
6. Children
7. Youth
8. Sole Support Parents

For More Information...
contact the Urban Poverty Consortium of Waterloo Region: