I am a student in my second year of Disability Studies at Mount Royal University. We learned about this advocacy campaign through our Advocacy of Canadians with a Disability course and I then decided I would like to take the challenge of living off an AISH budget. I first started to calculate what my budget would be daily (subtracting rent) with an AISH budget. This resulting in an average of 16 to 17 dollars I could spend daily. I then calculated what my regular monthly expenses would be and that came to $1280.00 per month (over $40 per day), this is all considering my absolute minimum expenses calculated and also not including things such as insurance, tuition, many emergencies, that my parents would pay as a result of my being a student. Within the AISH budget I had to virtually cut out expenses allocated to my dog, entertainment, truck and cell phone. This left me with money I could spend on Food and some miscellaneous items such as cloths and toiletries. After about a day or two I realized this was virtually impossible for me to complete. I had no way of meeting my responsibilities such as feeding my dog and getting to school not to mention many other things. After those few days I quite honestly went back to my regular budget and could not continue with the AISH budget. I am very happy you came out with this challenge that really allows people to get a realistic and practical few of the barriers, segregation, oppression, and limitations the AISH programs puts on persons with disabilities. Although my education has given me the awareness to this issue, this really gave me the empathy to the situation. I now, more than ever encourage advocacy towards this issue and demand better supports from the Alberta government. The AISH program in my opinion diminishes the rights of persons with disabilities rather than ensuring them and it’s about time this changes.
Stay tuned! Its almost been a month since Trevor has taken on the 1188 Challenge. Watch this Thursday's FFWD to hear about the hows it been!
ReplyDeleteI am a student in my second year of Disability Studies at Mount Royal University. We learned about this advocacy campaign through our Advocacy of Canadians with a Disability course and I then decided I would like to take the challenge of living off an AISH budget. I first started to calculate what my budget would be daily (subtracting rent) with an AISH budget. This resulting in an average of 16 to 17 dollars I could spend daily. I then calculated what my regular monthly expenses would be and that came to $1280.00 per month (over $40 per day), this is all considering my absolute minimum expenses calculated and also not including things such as insurance, tuition, many emergencies, that my parents would pay as a result of my being a student. Within the AISH budget I had to virtually cut out expenses allocated to my dog, entertainment, truck and cell phone. This left me with money I could spend on Food and some miscellaneous items such as cloths and toiletries. After about a day or two I realized this was virtually impossible for me to complete. I had no way of meeting my responsibilities such as feeding my dog and getting to school not to mention many other things. After those few days I quite honestly went back to my regular budget and could not continue with the AISH budget. I am very happy you came out with this challenge that really allows people to get a realistic and practical few of the barriers, segregation, oppression, and limitations the AISH programs puts on persons with disabilities. Although my education has given me the awareness to this issue, this really gave me the empathy to the situation. I now, more than ever encourage advocacy towards this issue and demand better supports from the Alberta government. The AISH program in my opinion diminishes the rights of persons with disabilities rather than ensuring them and it’s about time this changes.
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