I see the AISH (Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped) topic has made recent news and that the program may be getting an overview when it desperately needs an overhaul. Yay progress.
In the ten years I have lived in Red Deer I have come across a lot of people on AISH, and it never fails to baffle me how that program decides who is eligible and who is not. It appears that one has to have a flaming addiction to alcohol or drugs that has permanently altered ones reality and presto! You get AISH. However should you be born without a right hand or with Cerebral Palsey you don’t qualify.
It causes me to wonder what kind of nitwit is running the operations.
I know of a situation where a Canadian born unemployed AISH recipient who drives a new financed car living cost free with her mother. Aren’t you supposed to be in dire straights with nary a pot nor window to qualify?!?
Once on AISH, all prescription medications are covered and can then be sold on the street to bolster the income. It is a government funded addiction program.
This is not about painting everyone with the same brush. There are people genuinely in need of a disability pension and receive one. It’s just a tad sad to be a random individual who knows so many players.
There needs to be a straight across the board standard for this program as to who is approved and who is declined instead of the peeing match, it is now. Otherwise they may as well change the name to; “Addiction Income for the Sincerely Hammered.”
Bailey Coltman
Red Deer