This session focuses on the promise of the Canada Disability Benefit in 2020 by the Trudeau government in Canada, which has not yet come to fruition.  It includes one presentation, Nothing Without Us:  The Canada Disability Benefit.  The paper sets the context by describing the elevated poverty rates of  people with disabilities and the inadequacy of Canadian income support programs, including those introduced during the pandemic.  It goes on to argue that the disability community must meaningfully participate in the design of the new benefit to insure that it provides the material basis for disabled Canadians to live with dignity, autonomy and equity..The authors, who are Canadian disability activists working on poverty will then answer questions and engage in discussion with the audience.

Nousha Bayrami, Disability Without Poverty BC

Nousha a community organizer working to mobilize around and secure the Canada Disability Benefit. They’re a racialized settler on the unceded lands of the  xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and Sel̓íl̓witulh Nations. Nousha is a passionate spoonie committed to justice and equity through an intersectional lens lent by living experience and education. Nousha dedicated over a decade working alongside women, youth and QTIBIPoC with experiences of disability, poverty, gender-based violence, and institutionalization. These days they’re advocating for legislation and policy change led by folx with lived/living experience. Nousha is also a peer researcher with Health Justice, working to change BC’s Mental Health Act.

Kate Fish is a fat, queer, disabled, white person and Registered Social Worker. She is a mash-up of activism, critical thinking, creativity, and tech skills. Kate is an experienced community organizer, facilitator, and advocate that has worked primarily in the realm of poverty, harm reduction, blood-borne infections, toxic drug poisoning, and online community management. Peers have recognized Kate as someone connecting people for change. She knows that creating positive social shifts isn’t something that can be done alone; it's a joint effort. Kate lives on K'ómoks First Nation territory on Vancouver Island, Canada.

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Participatory Design of a Basic Income for People with Disabilities: The Canada Disability Benefit