Disability advocate attempts to live on a food budget of about $6.67 per day for a month

Reese Ketler, an offensive player for Canada’s wheelchair Rugby team, trying the Canada Disability Benefit 'diet' for social media.

Reese Ketler, an offensive player for Canada’s wheelchair Rugby team, challenged himself to live on a food budget of about $6.67 per day for a month.

His goal was to raise awareness about the inadequacies of the newly adopted Canada Disability Benefit - up to $200 a month for eligible Canadians living with a disability - and the challenges many with disabilities face on limited support.

He only made it three days before running out of energy, as the budget only allowed him to buy ramen, tuna, a bun, and a macaroni and cheese cup.

“I’m lucky enough to not be in a position to have to rely on that kind of disability benefit, but a big part of my social media is advocating for those that don’t really have a voice to speak up or a platform,” Ketler said in an interview with CTVNews.ca.

Ketler, 25, was a former defenceman for the St. Vital Victorias of the Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League (MMJHL) who became paralyzed at age 19 due to a spinal cord injury sustained while playing hockey.

His life completely changed after the injury. He went from an active routine as an athlete and university student to having to give up both.

After a difficult first few years of accepting his new reality, Ketler joined a wheelchair rugby team in Manitoba.

He made Canada’s national wheelchair rugby team in 2023. The following year, he decided to make content on social media to share his story and raise awareness about the realities of living with a disability.

“My purpose now is to inform people about disabilities,” Ketler said. “I get so many messages from people that are also in wheelchairs that maybe their injury is a little bit newer, and it really just gives them hope.”

“I’m just trying to normalize and show a different perspective on disability.”

‘Not meeting their financial needs’

Eight million Canadians aged 15 and older had at least one disability, a 2022 Statistics Canada data shows. According to a Disability Without Poverty report, 1,521,000 people with a disability lived in poverty that same year.

The Canada Disability Benefit provides financial support to people with disabilities aged 18 to 64.

The benefit, a six-year, $6.1-billion commitment under the federal government’s Disability Inclusion Action Plan, has been in the works for a few years in collaboration with several disability stakeholders.

However, despite consultations during the benefit’s development, some disability advocates say the government did not implement what they recommended.

With the first payments beginning in July, Rabia Khedr, national director of Disability Without Poverty, one of the advocacy groups the government consulted, said the benefit is falling short.

“We’re hearing from people that (the benefit) is helpful, but it’s not meeting their financial needs,” Khedr told CTVNews.ca.

“Able-bodied Canadians are finding housing costs and rising food costs unaffordable. They have to recognize that the impact on disabled Canadians is far greater when they’re not able to work enough to pay their bills, and they depend on provincial and federal payments to assist them in their cost of living.”

Khedr also noted how difficult it is to qualify and apply for the benefit.

This has been another point of contention, with groups raising concerns about how the benefit could be improved.

“Society generally thinks that disabled people receive everything they need because they’re disabled in this society, and that couldn’t be further from the truth,” she said.

Advocacy through social media

For Ketler, raising awareness about life with a disability on his social media remains an important part of his life.

His content on TikTok and Instagram regularly feature videos showing how he navigates his day in a wheelchair – getting out of bed, getting dressed, cleaning his apartment, or going to the beach – and what he calls “showing up for yourself” despite the challenges of having a disability.

“If there (had) been someone like me posting content about my disability when I was freshly injured in the hospital, I think that would (have helped) a lot, because (it) just would (have given) me a lot more hope in the beginning,” Ketler said.

“I want to show people that you can really do anything, and you’re always not going to get the best cards dealt, but it’s really how you play those cards.”