Whew! Stinky!

Yesterday I attended my second ODSP Support Group meeting at a downtown Toronto community centre. I got there early as I had arranged to meet up with a gentleman I met there last month. I have begun to write his story from the point of view of the contributions he is making to his community and society. Yesterday we took an opportunity to explore why I want to write like this and how this is different from making a list of ways that he volunteers.

I’ll call him Fred. Fred pointed out why ODSP recipients might well be suspicious of anyone asking them questions of how they contribute. He himself has been audited twice. Regardless of my “good intentions”, information I write here may well be picked up and used in “the system” to raise questions, foster misunderstandings and create delays. Many people would rather not risk that extra burden.

Fred does not use the internet but in a few days I can fax him the revised story we worked on. I believe that the next blog entry after this one will give you a sense of how his compassion and gifts are expressed.

Aside from this exchange I was very glad I showed up for the monthly meeting – so glad that I think I am going to try to be a regular. There were three people (and one dog) present who had not been at the last gathering and it made for a very different dynamic. Last month’s chair, the man focused on advocacy with his reams of data re tussles at the government level to further restrict access to the “special diet” – he was there documents in hand but other concerns dominated the discussion this time.

The conversation still centred on one person - the woman with the dog - but its focus was on strategies for getting as much as possible out of Moneybags. This is of prime interest to me! There we sat, gloating over potential treasure like the very thieves the system deems us to be, reviewing the ins and outs, ups and downs of a very complex set of rules that determine our financial context.
Perhaps the most fascinating moment was when someone revealed that the tracking system used by ODSP was created in another country – Sweden he believed – and that it is known to be full of glitches. One of the most common snafu apparently is the random mailing of letters from – guess who – R. Jackson (see previous blog!) to hapless recipients who get “informed” that they have been overpaid or are being cut off, or ….

It’s a rare and beautiful moment in life to discover that one is right. I am enjoying it!

So, indeed, I did receive a notification last year, relative to nothing at all, that I had been overpaid, that my non-existent benefit was being clawed back, then a few months later that my overpayment had been resolved. The entire set of events that my case worker had absolutely no knowledge of really did occur as an extraordinarily intricate fart of a computerized tracking system that chews the cud of its own self generated data. Whew! Stinky!

I recall the two occasions when I was cut off my benefit. I appeared as requested in a tiny sealed room. This room is provided with one way mirrors in the two doors, front and back, no windows and a massive desk stretching across the entire room, built as a solid piece to the floor. In this room the case worker and the client are structurally separated into different worlds as if coming to a common approach to life would be the most dangerous outcome ever to occur to the Province of Ontario.

Sitting in such a room, I have spoken to three case workers at different times. I now have a very different understanding of why they all asked me prying questions, examined the paperwork closely to see if mine matched theirs, then left the room for twenty minutes or more while I sweated in the airless cell and wondered somewhat panickedly if anyone would come to let me out eventually. Each when they returned was rather sweet and apologetic (and one rather flirtatious). Both times I was promptly reinstated.

I now understand what they all experience but must not tell me. The ODSP case workers spend untold hours of each week of their work life behind the cell doors correcting the chaos generated by the electronic money distribution system they all serve.

A great deal more was revealed yesterday – indeed grist for another few stories I am sure. Perhaps the most heartening was the wealth of resources we each could claim among ourselves. I have the Registered Disability Savings Plan manual. Another has information about the Disability Tax Credit. Another has the ODSP “dictionary” – a primary on the terms that are used to determine if a person qualifies for various benefits.

We agreed to bring and share our resources next month. I am excited with anticipation!

Judith