I live in #ODSPoverty  It’s supposed to be a “program of last resort”
This means that like me, everyone on the program has nowhere else to turn to for income.
Let me share my experiences:

I want to have a family. #ODSPoverty denies me equal marriage rights. I can't marry or live with my partner. #ODSPoverty insists that your partner must be financially responsible for you.

PWD are already FAR more likely to experience both domestic violence & homelessness.

Imagine becoming homeless in order to leave an abusive partner. It's already happened to me!

Imagine your boss stopped paying you because you have a boyfriend!

An #ODSPoverty reality.

#ODSPoverty is not enough to survive on.

I had to stay in a moldy homeless shelter for 5 YEARS until I finally got subsidized housing. Ironically rent at the shelter was 2x of what my rent is in subsidized housing. I was homeless because I'm disabled and too sick to work.

The conditions at the shelter were hazardous enough that the people working there needed air purifiers installed in their offices. I was given extra towels to mop up water since my room flooded so frequently. They got to go home at the end of day. I paid to live there for 5 years

Being immunocompromised and living in an extremely moldy & bug (cockroaches & bedbugs) infested shelter took a massive toll on my health. 1.5+ years later I am still on medications to remove the mycotoxins from my body.

It was COMPLETELY impossible to adhere to the medical diet my doctor recommended while homeless on #ODSPoverty ! All food I ate at “home” had to be in a single sealed package (ex. ramen, canned soup) or you could guarantee it would be bug infested. No ability to store leftovers.

No food from the food bank or at soup kitchens met my medical dietary needs either. It’s bad enough to have to go to the food bank, just to only be offered food you can't eat. It’s another thing to not even be able to get inside because the building isn’t accessible.

If I had funds and access to a kitchen, I could’ve prepared healthy meals. Not ramen everday, or heating up soup cans in a kettle. I really suffered by not sticking to the medical diet. I can’t believe that was 5+ years of my life, and for no reason at all.

Food insecurity is traumatic and a reality for all in #ODSPoverty. When you don't know where your next meal is coming from it's all you can think about.

I rationed myself to 2 ramen packets a day. Trying to get spots on comedy shows that offered food as compensation instead of beer so I knew that I could eat that day.

Always hungry, always stressed.

The only way I could find to escape the bugs and mold was to rent ANY accessible place at market price. This would have left me literally no money feed myself. Once landlords learned I was disabled or on #ODSPoverty they immediately cut correspondence with me.

PWD are discriminated against when finding housing and there is absolutely no recourse for us. We are routinely denied this human right.
It’s heartbreaking. For many people it’s impossible to get off the “support” and are forced to stay in #ODSPoverty for the rest of their lives.

If you’re sick but stuck in living conditions that keep you sick, regardless of how much you want to work or try to get better, you can never make progress. Living in #ODSPoverty ensured I couldn’t recover or move forward.

Another aspect of how tough it is to break free in this system is the inability to save any money. When you’re down to our last dollar every month just to attempt to cover basic necessities, you can’t help but acuumulate account and overdraft fees (about ~$15-20 a month)

To put that in perspective, that’s $20 of #ODSPoverty money going directly to the bank every month for over 5 years. Same goes with every person in #ODSPoverty who isn’t lucky enough to be able to work a bit and possibly save.

The one thing that allowed me to save money after 5 years was gaining access to subsidized housing. Once I had my own space, I was able to make healthier and thriftier choices when feeding myself.
You don't know how excited I was to buy broccoli for the first time in #ODSPoverty

I didn’t have to rely on eating out. I could store food and leftovers without fear of bug infestation.

These meager savings meant I could afford to take public transit again to get to a grocery store by myself.

I was afforded an EXTREMELY lucky work opportunity which I loved that let me save a little.
But after you earn $200 in a month, #ODSPoverty withholds 50% of your earnings to recoup their “loss” (cost of baaaarely keeping you alive)

My (8-12 hour/week) job took SO much out of me and required so much recovery time that I had to give up everything else in my life to work.
In the end I was pouring my entire self into that job, only to have most of it clawed back from me, still leaving me in #ODSPoverty

If they want people to be working, why is it that by design #ODSPoverty prevents people who are trying to work again from getting back on their feet by investing far less than is necessary to break the cycle of poverty?

Some PWD are not able, and will never be to work. With the current, absolutely pathetic amount "support" the receive, they’re effectively condemned to a life of #ODSPoverty from which there isn’t an escape.

I've already lost SO many years of my young adult life just trying to survive. And for what? When you are so impoverished and starving in a system with no sign of changing it makes you feel incredibly hopeless; Even more hopeless than my CONSTANT, INTENSE physical pain does!!!

It's heartbreaking to think about my future and how NONE of my aspirations are possible, not because my health & disability themselves prevent it, but because I'm forced to live in #ODSPoverty.

I want you to check yourself next time you think to yourself "Today was a hard day" but you tell yourself that “It'll be better tomorrow.” Remember that right now, there are HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS living in #ODSPoverty can’t say the same.

A few people have told me that “Disability rights is your calling!”
Annnd it shouldn’t have to be!!!
I want to have a family!!! I want to work wood!!!
I want to have a life that isn’t focused around begging people to afford me the most basic needs for my survival.

Retweet in 30 seconds or the next haircut you get won't suit you

Jk, but pleeeease do consider retweeting this thread as it would mean a lot to me and there isn't enough awareness among people unaffected by #ODSPoverty

Help make a change!

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