Question That Arises When I Talk About The Connection Between Being An Income Assistance Recipient And Socializing
By Kendall Worth
The Question Actually is:
Kendall, is the reason why a large number of income assistance recipients complain that only have very few or no friends, because they are on Income Assistance, or is it because of they do not have good social skills?
Where does this question really come from?
As I continue to advocate (especially through my BLOG) for people living in poverty here in Halifax Nova Scotia, occasionally I hear the question above. And it does not come from income assistance recipients themselves, but comes from Financially Better Off folks who see and read my BLOG. This means from time to time I hear from someone who works a full-time job or has better finances tell me it does not make sense for us to hear and read things like, “Income assistance recipients are not friends with the people they see when they are at their food-banks and soup kitchens?” The people who bring this up tell me “Kendall many of us who have full-time jobs we do have friendships with the people we see at our places of employment.” Also occasionally a financially better off person will tell me “Kendall I have friends who are on Income Assistance and I have friends who have disabilities and they live full and enriched lives."
That
means that some
members of the financially better off community needs to learn that
every
situation is different.
This
question
is coming from
who work at other types of jobs
for a living. I made a number of these arguments in this
blog post, and I am elaborating on them today.
Out
of population of the financially better
off community
I am in contact with, only a handful of them are asking this
question, and
this does
not include professionals like doctors,
psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and counsellors
who
income assistance recipients attend for their medical and counselings
related needs. Still it is a question that
needs to be answered.
The principal factor people need to understand is that every situation for people on Income assistance experience is different. Many people only can socialize with others in line at food banks and soup kitchens, where there are at least three groups of people. First, those who are so marginalized, addicted or mentally ill that they cannot yet be thinking about making friends; second, those who are working on healing and therapy and getting improvements in their lives but are still not ready for friendship, or thinking about others; and those few who have reached stability in their poverty and can look externally thinking about friendship. The problem is that these folks are few and far between and one may or may not share interests with them even if you find them! So, sometimes the majority of people they see at there soup-kitchens, trying to be friendly, only hurts their mental health even more.
Speaking from the first voice point of view, let me eflect on this issue. I have used the name Bob for a person I wrote about here… Bob (not his real name) has been on income assistance for several years and has experienced many reasons for staying within his Comfort Zone when it comes to socializing. This link includes a few BLOG posts explaining the comfort zone of an income assistance recipient. The BLOG post Dated March 12th 2025 points out the general reasons why Income Assistance Recipients like to remain within their Comfort zone. The March 12th post points out People on Income Assistance and living with mental health issues or disabilities are often very uncomfortable in the spaces we inhabit. And the post dated March 19th 2025 points out why a non professional friendship peer support program is an ideal solution for this problem.
This article in the now folded N.S. Advocate, points out one major example of why some people have to be careful about who they socialize with in their community. This article points out the impacts on an income assistance recipient, with mental health issues when stigma believers choose to not mind their own business. For more on Stigma Income Assistance recipients face and why we are often unconfortable in the spaces we inhabit, see:
https://nsadvocate.org/2016/10/17/kendall-worth-ignorant-ideas-about-welfare-i-hear-a-lot/
https://worthmatters.blogspot.com/search/label/stigma
Bob (not his real name) sometimes looks back and thinks about what he could have done differently in his personal life to keep himself from landing where he is in today.
As I pointed out here and here living life with invisible disabilities can have major impact on us especially when we get older. Bob can relate to these articles because he has invisible disabilities himself. As part of stigma, directed at Bob I the past, he has been accused of faking his ADD, a learning disability, and issues with depression and anxiety. Bob is not alone as other Income Assistance recipients who have been accused of faking their disabilities, know.
Also, these days we hear more and more about people in their 30’s and 40’s getting diagnosed with autism for the first time. Bob is currently undergoing a psychology assessment to see if there is anything wrong with his social skills. Bob lives a life where a lot of his past friendships have ended and he does not socialize with a lot of people. Through this psychology assessment they are trying to find out if it is something psychological, or if it is something wrong with his Social Skills.
Anyway let continue to look for a solution, as well as continue to educate the public.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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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