Since mid-May 2020, we have been circulating a survey asking disabled and neurodivergent people in B.C. what they struggled with before the $300 increase, what impact the $300 increase has had on their lives, and what impact it would have on them if the increase was made permanent. We have received over 300 responses to date.
Below are selections from those stories, along with photos of some of the things respondents have been able to afford with the $300 increase, shared with the permission of the respondents.
Update: we have completed analysis on survey responses received up until June 21, 2020. This analysis was used to create a report, which was sent to the Premier, the Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, and the Standing Committee in charge of the 2021 budget consultation. Read the report here.
We are still receiving survey responses and highlighting your stories!
You can share your story on our survey here.
Send us a photo on social media or by email!
Below are selections from those stories, along with photos of some of the things respondents have been able to afford with the $300 increase, shared with the permission of the respondents.
Update: we have completed analysis on survey responses received up until June 21, 2020. This analysis was used to create a report, which was sent to the Premier, the Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, and the Standing Committee in charge of the 2021 budget consultation. Read the report here.
We are still receiving survey responses and highlighting your stories!
You can share your story on our survey here.
Send us a photo on social media or by email!
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"A selection of gorgeous fresh vegetables and staples." |
Image: A colourful collection of fresh vegetables and other groceries, including eggs, nut butter and canned fish, on a white table top.
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"It allowed me to make rent this month and still have food
for my 1-year-old daughter."
What did you and/or your disabled and neurodivergent community struggle with before the $300 increase?
Groceries, medicine, clothing, transportation, basic needs for myself and my 1-year-old daughter.
How has the $300 increase helped you and/or people in your family/community/etc.?
It allowed me to make rent this month and still have food for my 1-year-old daughter.
If the $300 increase is made permanent, how will that help?
It would help me maintain stable housing for myself and my daughter instead of bouncing around between shelters.
- Tiana
Groceries, medicine, clothing, transportation, basic needs for myself and my 1-year-old daughter.
How has the $300 increase helped you and/or people in your family/community/etc.?
It allowed me to make rent this month and still have food for my 1-year-old daughter.
If the $300 increase is made permanent, how will that help?
It would help me maintain stable housing for myself and my daughter instead of bouncing around between shelters.
- Tiana
Image description: three packages of raw meat.
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"Fresh meats for freezer meals." |
"I will be able to eat enough to not be hungry anymore."
What did you and/or your disabled and neurodivergent community struggle with before the $300 increase?
Rent, food.
How has the $300 increase helped you and/or people in your family/community/etc.?
Helped me afford food that I often went without. Haven’t been going to bed hungry.
If the $300 increase is made permanent, how will that help?
I will be able to eat enough to not be hungry anymore. Thank you.
- Anonymous
Rent, food.
How has the $300 increase helped you and/or people in your family/community/etc.?
Helped me afford food that I often went without. Haven’t been going to bed hungry.
If the $300 increase is made permanent, how will that help?
I will be able to eat enough to not be hungry anymore. Thank you.
- Anonymous
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"At long last, new bed sheets!" |
Image: Three folded bedsheets, the top one teal and the bottom two white, stacked on top of each other, on a wooden tray.
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"$300 would make a monumental impact in my life."
What did you and/or your disabled and neurodivergent community struggle with before the $300 increase?
Getting any necessities other than food. And food insecurity, as well as being able to afford healthy and good food. Things like clothing, shoes, repairs to my living space, improving my quality of life is generally out of the question financially.
How has the $300 increase helped you and/or people in your family/community/etc.?
I feel like I have room to breath, literally. Despite COVID, I feel less anxious for the interim. I was able to buy some very urgently needed clothes. I hope I can buy shoes even. For groceries, I was able to buy comfortably, without feeling like I had to wither down my cart to just a few options, and actually afford enough food.
If the $300 increase is made permanent, how will that help?
I'd feel able to live a bit more comfortably; the $300 would mean room to save; $300 would make a monumental impact in my life. I could meet my basic necessities that I am not able to right now. Buying good lasting clothes. Buying a healthier diet, as the most affordable food is low quality, and unhealthy.
- Anonymous
Getting any necessities other than food. And food insecurity, as well as being able to afford healthy and good food. Things like clothing, shoes, repairs to my living space, improving my quality of life is generally out of the question financially.
How has the $300 increase helped you and/or people in your family/community/etc.?
I feel like I have room to breath, literally. Despite COVID, I feel less anxious for the interim. I was able to buy some very urgently needed clothes. I hope I can buy shoes even. For groceries, I was able to buy comfortably, without feeling like I had to wither down my cart to just a few options, and actually afford enough food.
If the $300 increase is made permanent, how will that help?
I'd feel able to live a bit more comfortably; the $300 would mean room to save; $300 would make a monumental impact in my life. I could meet my basic necessities that I am not able to right now. Buying good lasting clothes. Buying a healthier diet, as the most affordable food is low quality, and unhealthy.
- Anonymous
"I have finally experienced a quality of life approaching normative."
What did you and/or your disabled and neurodivergent community struggle with before the $300 increase?
I pay $750 of my $1150 just for a roof. Then I have a cell phone I pay for. It can be very claustrophobic trying to manage without any other income with what's left. I've had to delay my uncovered prescription at times, until I can pay for it with a GST rebate. I generally have not purchased any new clothes except shoes for up to 5 years at a time. I have literally had to figure out how to purchase food with as little as $1.25 a day for an entire month just to make it to the next cheque day. Nothing I spend money on is frivolous, everything gets used as long as humanly possible before it's replaced. That extra $300 left me with room to breathe, especially now that a lot of retailers stopped putting items on sale that I would normally buy $50 at a time to last me for anywhere up to 3 months. When that time limit runs up and they claw back that $300, it won't take me long to go back to feeling like I have to ration a couple dollars a day just to make it to the end of the month. And god forbid, if anything should happen where I have a financial emergency.
How has the $300 increase helped you and/or people in your family/community/etc.?
I have finally experienced a quality of life approaching normative, despite the fact I don't party or drink. I don't have anything luxury, but I was finally able to chip away at straightening my life out a little for a couple months. I've had to change my eating habits due to scarcity of sales, and for the first time in ages, I didn't have to do the calculus on that decision for a couple of days (starting in the middle of the night) before acting on it. My anxiety about the limits of my financial resources finally went down, and I wasn't losing sleep over it from the anxiety of how to manage with "limit 1 per family" on-sale prices on essentials.
If the $300 increase is made permanent, how will that help?
If it hasn't been made abundantly clear yet, that $300 can make the difference between a modest ease of self-sufficiency, which is all anyone really wants, and agonizing over every little decision all the time, which I can assure you, helps absolutely no one. I'm sure I'm not the only person on disability who ever went into personal debt trying to make ends meet, or climb out of a situation of socially engineered poverty.
That $300 is literally an additional 25% of what we're allowed otherwise. Ever had a 25% pay raise switching to a better job? Now imagine being demoted to lesser pay after 3 months, or that contract running out and being out of a job again. I've been there, too, when I worked for doctors as a temp. I had to intentionally starve myself for 6 weeks to catch up on my rent. This shouldn't be anyone's experience, let alone when they are already on disability, and earning less in a month than what an entry-level receptionist was paid 15 years ago when I was in the position I've described. I may still have emergencies requiring financial resources I don't have laying around (it's impossible to save money when you have so little).
The first thing that comes to mind is dental work, because that was also a factor in my experience 15 years ago, and I couldn't afford to return to a dentist for 10 years after that. But that 25% added on top would more than likely mean the difference between living exclusively on carefully rationed meal replacement shakes (like I did 15 years ago for 6 weeks), and still being able to buy a salad without wondering if there's going to be enough to make it to cheque day.
- Jamie
I pay $750 of my $1150 just for a roof. Then I have a cell phone I pay for. It can be very claustrophobic trying to manage without any other income with what's left. I've had to delay my uncovered prescription at times, until I can pay for it with a GST rebate. I generally have not purchased any new clothes except shoes for up to 5 years at a time. I have literally had to figure out how to purchase food with as little as $1.25 a day for an entire month just to make it to the next cheque day. Nothing I spend money on is frivolous, everything gets used as long as humanly possible before it's replaced. That extra $300 left me with room to breathe, especially now that a lot of retailers stopped putting items on sale that I would normally buy $50 at a time to last me for anywhere up to 3 months. When that time limit runs up and they claw back that $300, it won't take me long to go back to feeling like I have to ration a couple dollars a day just to make it to the end of the month. And god forbid, if anything should happen where I have a financial emergency.
How has the $300 increase helped you and/or people in your family/community/etc.?
I have finally experienced a quality of life approaching normative, despite the fact I don't party or drink. I don't have anything luxury, but I was finally able to chip away at straightening my life out a little for a couple months. I've had to change my eating habits due to scarcity of sales, and for the first time in ages, I didn't have to do the calculus on that decision for a couple of days (starting in the middle of the night) before acting on it. My anxiety about the limits of my financial resources finally went down, and I wasn't losing sleep over it from the anxiety of how to manage with "limit 1 per family" on-sale prices on essentials.
If the $300 increase is made permanent, how will that help?
If it hasn't been made abundantly clear yet, that $300 can make the difference between a modest ease of self-sufficiency, which is all anyone really wants, and agonizing over every little decision all the time, which I can assure you, helps absolutely no one. I'm sure I'm not the only person on disability who ever went into personal debt trying to make ends meet, or climb out of a situation of socially engineered poverty.
That $300 is literally an additional 25% of what we're allowed otherwise. Ever had a 25% pay raise switching to a better job? Now imagine being demoted to lesser pay after 3 months, or that contract running out and being out of a job again. I've been there, too, when I worked for doctors as a temp. I had to intentionally starve myself for 6 weeks to catch up on my rent. This shouldn't be anyone's experience, let alone when they are already on disability, and earning less in a month than what an entry-level receptionist was paid 15 years ago when I was in the position I've described. I may still have emergencies requiring financial resources I don't have laying around (it's impossible to save money when you have so little).
The first thing that comes to mind is dental work, because that was also a factor in my experience 15 years ago, and I couldn't afford to return to a dentist for 10 years after that. But that 25% added on top would more than likely mean the difference between living exclusively on carefully rationed meal replacement shakes (like I did 15 years ago for 6 weeks), and still being able to buy a salad without wondering if there's going to be enough to make it to cheque day.
- Jamie
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Image: A close-up of the lower half of a light-skinned person's face, with their mouth open to show a missing upper tooth. The person holds a sign that says "I couldn't even afford to think about a dentist for ten years! #300ToLive."
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Image: A light-skinned person with long, wavy brown hair stands in front of rack of clothing, holding a sign that says: "I can finally afford to buy clothes sooner than once in five years! #300ToLive."
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"I wish life was more than the constant stress of survival."
What did you and/or your disabled and neurodivergent community struggle with before the $300 increase?
Poverty and hopelessness. Having to share a one-bedroom with another person; the curtained off dining area of the living room is my bedroom. I am 55 and life just gets harder, more painful and difficult to navigate.
How has the $300 increase helped you and/or people in your family/community/etc.?
Because of autoimmune disorder, I have to order groceries online, which is an extra charge. The cost of groceries has shot up, and I can no longer bus and shop around for better prices: basically it means I was able to feed myself. I wish I could afford to eat healthier but that’s out of reach. I wish life was more than the constant stress of survival. I wish I could live in my own place.
If the $300 increase is made permanent, how will that help?
Well if the extra $300 ends before a vaccine or eradicating through testing, isolating, tracing, and if the food prices don’t go back down, I will not be able to feed myself 1,000 calories of food a day. Getting the proper balance and nutrition and variety needed to be ok. If food prices go down, if I can safely ride the bus again, and the $300 remains, I probably still wouldn’t be able to afford my own place, but I would have a little extra to save to at least visit my grandkids occasionally.
- Anonymous
Poverty and hopelessness. Having to share a one-bedroom with another person; the curtained off dining area of the living room is my bedroom. I am 55 and life just gets harder, more painful and difficult to navigate.
How has the $300 increase helped you and/or people in your family/community/etc.?
Because of autoimmune disorder, I have to order groceries online, which is an extra charge. The cost of groceries has shot up, and I can no longer bus and shop around for better prices: basically it means I was able to feed myself. I wish I could afford to eat healthier but that’s out of reach. I wish life was more than the constant stress of survival. I wish I could live in my own place.
If the $300 increase is made permanent, how will that help?
Well if the extra $300 ends before a vaccine or eradicating through testing, isolating, tracing, and if the food prices don’t go back down, I will not be able to feed myself 1,000 calories of food a day. Getting the proper balance and nutrition and variety needed to be ok. If food prices go down, if I can safely ride the bus again, and the $300 remains, I probably still wouldn’t be able to afford my own place, but I would have a little extra to save to at least visit my grandkids occasionally.
- Anonymous
"This is a good start!"
What did you and/or your disabled and neurodivergent community struggle with before the $300 increase?
Food, everything, and still do, yet this is a good start!
How has the $300 increase helped you and/or people in your family/community/etc.?
Better buying power in way of groceries and has taken the pressure off and has helped with my depression being easier to deal with.
If the $300 increase is made permanent, how will that help?
It will help to bring a more stable quality of life, offering more choices which is always good, a good start of I hope many!
- Dan
Food, everything, and still do, yet this is a good start!
How has the $300 increase helped you and/or people in your family/community/etc.?
Better buying power in way of groceries and has taken the pressure off and has helped with my depression being easier to deal with.
If the $300 increase is made permanent, how will that help?
It will help to bring a more stable quality of life, offering more choices which is always good, a good start of I hope many!
- Dan
"I've been able to eat proper meals every day
for the first time in 5 years."
What did you and/or your disabled and neurodivergent community struggle with before the $300 increase?
Affording food/meals every day and essential nutritional supplements, and being malnourished as a result of that.
How has the $300 increase helped you and/or people in your family/community/etc.?
I've been able to eat proper meals every day for the first time in 5 years (the length of time that I've been on PWD). I've also been able to start buying iron to treat my anemia/iron deficiency.
If the $300 increase is made permanent, how will that help?
It would be amazing. It would have positive effects on my health both because it would help me afford what I need to support myself as a chronically ill disabled person and because the constant stress weighing me down would be lifted significantly. $300 might not seem like a lot to some people, but it's double the amount I have left to live on after rent and bills.
- Anonymous
Affording food/meals every day and essential nutritional supplements, and being malnourished as a result of that.
How has the $300 increase helped you and/or people in your family/community/etc.?
I've been able to eat proper meals every day for the first time in 5 years (the length of time that I've been on PWD). I've also been able to start buying iron to treat my anemia/iron deficiency.
If the $300 increase is made permanent, how will that help?
It would be amazing. It would have positive effects on my health both because it would help me afford what I need to support myself as a chronically ill disabled person and because the constant stress weighing me down would be lifted significantly. $300 might not seem like a lot to some people, but it's double the amount I have left to live on after rent and bills.
- Anonymous
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