KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – One of the things I write about is income assistance recipients going to the hospital for day surgery, and how hard it is to arrange a drive home by a person who the hospital approves of.
See also: How poor people looking out for one another saves the day after day surgery gets cancelled.
There are other problems.
Community Services offers income assistance recipients home care support while they are recovering from surgery.
Several income assistance recipients in my community told me that after some bad experiences in the future they will refuse that home care.
What I am told is that some home care workers accused these income assistance recipients of just being people who do not want to work and just want to be lazy.
When they tried to explain to the home care workers what invisible disabilities are and how they stop them from holding down full time employment, the home care workers outright did not listen.
I am also told that the home care workers tended to want to know stuff about the client’s life that is none of their business..
These are issues around stigma that I address in my stories Ignorant ideas about welfare I hear a lot, and More ignorant ideas about welfare that people actually believe.
Some home care workers need to be trained to understand why some of their clients may be income assistance recipients.
Kendall Worth is an award-winning anti-poverty activist who lives with disabilities and tries to make ends meet on income assistance.
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