r/CanadaDisability

does anyone have any idea why it’s changed.

(no i have not done anything different for a whole year)

I'm not one to typically air out my dirty laundry online but this outcome has really got a chip on my shoulder.

As many people are already aware nearly a year ago I suffered a knee replacement failure that broke my femur, which triggered a series of unfortunate events that resulted in the amputation of my right leg above the knee after several surgeries.

My disability benefits application was supposed to be done when I was a patient at the Nova Scotia rehabilitation centre months ago. But unfortunately 1 of 3 available social workers was on an extended leave of absence leaving the remaining two individuals expected to pick up the slack. Long story short the application never started and I had to do it on my own initiative.

So after finally getting all the paperwork filled out with my family doctor, because the online portal refuses to function I mailed the paperwork with a stack of medical records to Ottawa.

Well somebody rejected my application citing that I failed to meet the criteria for rule number 3. "Have a severe and prolonged disability as defined by CPP legislation"

I'm sorry what in the actual fuck?!

I've been living with symptoms of my auto-immune disorder since the age of 10, I spent most of my teenage years on crutches and addicted to opioids, I finally regained some dignity and independence after I was done growing with my first knee replacement at age 18 and revision replacement at age 26. My damned leg is chopped off now, if that's not disabled I don't know what is.

But according to the Government of Canada I'm still capable of finding "Substantially gainful employment with accommodations".

My savings aren't invincible and I need to find a source of income sooner rather than later, I ran out of my employment insurance benefits and have already been denied workers compensation as they cited my injury occurred due to a pre-existing condition.

And while I'm venting on this topic, did you know that disability benefits provided are below the official poverty line of $31,260 for an individual earner?!

How does a politician expect a disabled individual to live on scraps? I know there's a certain type of Canadian who would rather we disabled people isolate ourselves out of sight from society like hermits so they can pretend we don't exist. "Out of sight out of mind" kind of rationale.

But nope, apparently I'm not even worthy of these scraps despite the fact I'm already eligible for the disability tax credit and worked as a federal public servant for over three years!

A disabled man in Alberta recently committed suicide after having his benefits cut by the UCP, so this is the perfect time and place to raise a stink over this I feel at least.

Yes I will be calling Service Canada tomorrow and escalate to a supervisor for an appeal.

Happy Canada 159 everybody.