January 21, 2026 at Scarborough Civic Centre
Good afternoon Budget Committee members and thank you for this opportunity to speak. My name is Dev Ramsawakh and I’m a program assistant at the Centre of Independent Living in Toronto, which is a part of the GTA Disability Coalition, and I’m a disabled, queer and Indo-Caribbean independent artist.
I’m here to address the glaring exclusion of disability and access in the city budget. Disabled people have been neglected by our governments for too long. We are a large and diverse community that makes up nearly a quarter of Toronto’s population. And due to systemic neglect, we are more likely to live in poverty, experience homelessness and be excluded from daily life. According to StatsCan, women and gender diverse individuals were more likely to be disabled than cisgender men and were more likely to experience worse outcomes. StatsCan also reports that racialized people with disabilities experience worse school and work outcomes than their non-racialized counterparts due to discrimination.
A single disabled person on ODSP receives a maximum of $1408 while average market rents are almost $1800 for a one-bedroom apartment and the threshold for so-called affordable housing is over $1400. However, ODSP is notorious for being extremely difficult to attain and many disabled people are unfairly disqualified and the rates for OW only provide a maximum of $733. This means many disabled people are unable to afford their housing, much less any of their other basic needs, even if they are able to receive the monthly $200 from the Canada Disability Benefit. This is not to mention that not only are we impacted by housing affordability, but there is an extreme shortage of accessible housing.
And according to the Wellesley Institute’s report on “Thriving in the City with a Disability,” it is more expensive to live with a disability than without one. Every day I log onto social media, I see members of the disability community crowdfunding online for their rent, for food, for repairs to their mobility aids and more.
The Thriving in the City report also describes how social participation promotes positive physical and mental health, but if we can’t afford basic needs, we can’t afford to attend events in order to socialize. Many of us are also facing isolation due to a lack of funding towards COVID and other viral precautions.
In addition to improved poverty reduction strategies, initiatives to address this isolation should also be a priority. An example could be the new initiative for Toronto Public Libraries to provide programming for seniors to reduce isolation could be extended to all people with disabilities. Another could be ensuring that all public venues have adequate air infiltration systems to create safer environments for disabled people to attend.
If finding the funds seems like an issue, I would recommend reallocating funds from Toronto Police Services. It has been well-documented that funding social programs does more to reduce crime than police services do. Especially when these funds are used to criminalize our unhoused community, many of whom are disabled or will become disabled due to being unhoused.
It is also an issue that so much of our budget is put towards Toronto Police while vulnerable communities like disabled people do not have dedicated funds to improve their lives when these communities are disproportionately victims of police violence. Back in 2018, CBC reported on how at least half of victims of police brutality had a disability. On top of this, police violence often leaves survivors with some kind of disability.
In conclusion, I urge the Budget Committee and other City of Toronto officials to better prioritize disabled people within their decision-making processes. Thank you for your time.