Tell your story about the benefit you’ve had from being on Special Diet.
If the provincial government’s new Nutritional Supplement program doesn’t meet the test of the Five Principles, people who are currently getting the Special Diet Allowance will lose a very important source of support.
We want to know what the impact on people will be.
If you are currently receiving Special Diet, please tell us your story using the comments box below.
If you are a friend or family member of a person on Special Diet, or if you work with people who are on Special Diet, please let them know about this opportunity to tell their story.
Make sure to include information like:
- How long have you been receiving the Special Diet Allowance?
- How worried are you about losing the Special Diet Allowance?
- What will it mean to you if the new Nutritional Supplement program doesn’t meet the Five Principles test – and you lose your Special Diet Allowance?
- Could it mean you might get sicker? Are you worried about going hungry? Losing weight? Could you potentially lose your housing? Your mobility? Will you become ineligible for OW or ODSP? Or, will it have no impact on you?
We will use your stories to demonstrate to government how important Special Diet has been for the people who need it, and how important it will be for them to create a Nutritional Supplement program that meets the need.
Please Note: Since the government has decided to keep the Special Diet program, we have closed comments on this thread. Please go to www.incomesecurity.org, the website of our partner group ISAC, for further information about the changes that government is making to the Special Diet program.
In the 1990′s, i told workers that i had irritable bowel syndrome and food intolerances and needed the more expensive foods at the health store. they told me ‘we don’t pay for that’. after a suicide attempt in 2000 after having moved 20 times, a fellow recipient told me about the sda. in 2002, i got $10 and then $40 for a no sugar diet. then after a worker called me for a review in 2003 and noticed that i had applied for organic diet etc i got the full $250 with a statement that i would get it till 2028. then in 2006 i got $240 when the gov’t changed the forms yet again. now in subsidized housing which is financially better but still as stressful as other places for my environmental sensitivities, i have enough money for food. taking it away from me will mean i’ll be struggling at the fourth week of every month like years ago and my ability to plan my life once again taken from me.
I received the special diet while I was on OW from December 2009 till September 2010 in the amount of $42 per month.
I had type 2 diabetes and was able to buy more fresh fruits and vegetables and no longer. My health improved and I no longer take diabetes medication nor require B12 shots.
A healthier diet CAN make a difference. I no longer have diabetes and THE SPECIAL DIET combined with a life style change made this possible for me.
Actually my special diet was cut from 130 to 20 dollars a month back in 2006. This was a major shocker because I relied on it for the protein foods which helped with my anemia and B12 deficiencies. I also have Thyroid and stress related injuries so I lost it again. The amount of $ for shelter and basics does not amount to 4 or so dollars an hour. I do not believe the indecency the Government provincial and federal is warranted for the disabled. We are human beings and did not mean to become damaged goods….I worked for 17 years before I got hurt and miss it especially the financial rewards..and the decency society treated me. Now I am no more than a discarded soul worthless and ignored…I wish disability on all who do not care….Bad ay until you are here you do not or ignore it….Laurie
If it is cut and if it is not replaced with something of value it will cost time and money as I will have to go in and out of hospital for an I.V drip.
Before I received the SD my Electrolyte levels would drop dangerously low which affects the heart.
I am hiv + , hep c +, have ibs and cancer. Before i was aware of the special diet i had to go to food banks and ask friends and family for hand outs. Most of the food bank food was nutrition-less, pasta and rice…..canada is not a 3rd world country but i was eating like it was.
Buying fresh food became a treat…when it was required
A friend told me i could get food $$ from the SDP, i was amazed cause when i asked odsp about any other funding i was told that i was getting the max. Lies.
Since getting an extra 250 ive been able to choose my own fresh fruit and veggies, i could even splurge on dietary supplements and vitamins rather than asking family to give them to me as birthday or christmas gifts :)
This helped boost my energy in order to look after myself. To do laundry and clean. To get up and go. I was more happy too, eating right is not just health for the body, but mind and spirit as well,
I was lucky to get the Diet Allowance ASAP and spent everydime and more on Diet and special care for HIV. The result is a 110% decrease in HIV viral load in 4 months. Unorecendented but due to Nutrition I was able to fight HIV. If it is taken away or reduced.. I can;t imagine what I will do as that is NEVER an option I can consider. Poverty on ODSP is Bad enough, Poverty and no food or improper diet is a Danger, tantamount to Murder, Death, etc. Dramatic yes,but so is slowly and painfully reverting to or developing AIDS or worse. Shame on the Ontario goverment for attempting to take away, food fro people on Disabilitym that fight everyday to survive in an exonmomy that Ontario created.. OMG. Take the Damn $ from these Politicians who do NOTHING ..and are so useless. Except at doing what they do Best. Tax the poor.
Richard
hi there, i have crohn’s dease ,with out this specal deit, i would not be able to stay healthy,the cost of the things i need from this specal deit, have gone up, in the past year, now with HST the cost has gone up. i really hate using the food bank, the food will keep you alive, but most is not health,it’s processed, has to much salt and sugar, which cauces deiabetis, and that runs in our family, and i don’t want that on top of what i have thank-you, so please help, living in poverty is not fun, sometime i feel so bad, about how i live,if i could work, i would,i don’t want to be on ODSP, but with out it,i’m dumed. i want to know, if you could live on what we get, we have to do free things,no meals out,no going to the movies, even with 1/2 price, christmas,i really feel bad, living in poverty sucks, but please help, thank-you judy
I have many medical problems that allowed me to be eligible for the full %250 per month. I have been recieving it for about 4 years now. If the Special Diet Allowance is eliminated, I believe I will be joining many other in the emergency room more frequently, as I will not be able to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables. I do not spend my odsp cheque on junk foood at all whatsoever. I DONT purchase anything deemed unhealthy. The problem is anything healthy costs way more that junk food. I am petrified of what will happen if the allowance is taken away. I will not be able to buy any vitamin supplements REQUIRED for my medical conditions AND ODSP won’t pay for them either through the drug card. They alone cost me %125 per month. My anziety levels are through the roof not knowing what will happen to the SDA. ‘m hoping with the large public outcry the change will be scraped like the eco fees. If I don’t eat healthy, how will I care for my very young children? Most importantly, how will I be able to cook healthy home-made meals for myself and them? How will I be able to give them a piece of fruit to school each day when they start next year?
I have been on the special diet for the past about 6 or 7yrs now and all of a sudden they want to take it from me. I have a daughter who is at my house about 20 of the 30 or 31 days of the month.. I have to feed her plus myself and I also pay child support of 70.00 a month. How am I suppose to feed myself and my daughter and live anywhere? This is just so ridiculous ,I have not choosen to be disabilied and if I could work I would. This is going to hurt me so much if I lose it, I will not be able to eat properly myself or feed my daughter. I will not be able to see her as much because I will not be able to feed her, she is all I have ,I have no family or anyone else to help me,so I have to provide on my own. This not knowing is the hardest stress I have been through and have had my form in from when they first sent them and still have heard nothing back at all. When are we suppose to know ? The stress from not knowing is the hardest thing and I feel they do not care taking food from our mouths and what they give us for rent no one can live properly on that at all and to have my daughter I need to have a 2bdrm. or the cas will not want her to come here. They have stressed this issue in the past and I have no gave her my room and sleep on the couch. I do not drive and live in small town and the prices they charge at Foodland is crazy because of no competition, so I have no choice to pay this. If I lose this SDA I will end up sick and not be able to see my daughter and get proper medication, like Boost or Ensure or Vitamins I get now for my health problems. This is crazy that they are doing this to us when I am on ODSP, for mental health issues and stress is one of them , and what they are putting us through is crazy and so unfair. I was in jail years back and its pretty bad when you feel more secure in there because you know you have a roof over your head and 3 meals a day ,a room with cable tv in it , and a paycheck every week, I sometimes wish I could go back there but my daugher is my world and do not want to leave her. I cannot even get a job anywhere in my town because of my record.
I just want to know how I am going to survive and get through each month and feed my daugher properly and myself. When does this stop us people being on a disability and not because we want to be but because we have to be. I DID NOT CHOOSE TO BE IN THIS SITUATION AND FEEL I BEING CONDEMED FOR BEING SICK, IT IS JUST SO UNFAIR. COREY