Alberta is Making Life Harder for Disabled People — Here's How

On July 1st, 2026, about 46,000 Albertans were moved off AISH — the disability income program the province has had since 1979 — and onto a new one called ADAP. The government says ADAP is about work. About empowering people with disabilities who have some capacity to earn a living to do it without losing their benefits. Under AISH, you could earn up to $1,072 a month before your benefit was touched. Under ADAP, it's $700. And for the roughly 34,000 people who stayed on AISH, the exemption dropped to $350 a month — with a 100% claw back above that. Every dollar earned over $350, a dollar of benefit gone. This video walks through the whole thing, fairly — including the government's real case, because it has one. AISH genuinely was one-size-fits-all. ADAP's $45,000 income ceiling before the benefit fully disappears is the highest of any comparable program in Canada. Health benefits continue no matter what you earn. Those points are real, and they're in here in full. But so is the math. And so is the story of Aisha Strange — a former university student headed to law school, catastrophically injured by an impaired driver, now requiring around-the-clock care — whose family received a letter saying ADAP would help her "pursue meaningful employment." You can support reforming disability benefits and still want to know exactly what changed, what it costs, and who's being paid to run it. THE NUMBERS → 46,000 — Albertans moved from AISH to ADAP on July 1, 2026 → ~79,000 — total AISH recipients affected; ~34,000 remain on AISH → $1,940 → $1,740 — monthly maximum, AISH vs ADAP (a $200/month cut, $2,400 a year) → $1,072 → $700 — monthly employment income you can keep before clawback, on ADAP → $1,072 → $350 — the same exemption for those who stayed on AISH, now with a 100% clawback above it → Jan 1, 2028 — when the transition top-up ends and payments drop → $525 — how far below the poverty line a single adult on AISH already sits, with no employment income (U of C economist Gillian Petit) → $725 — how far below the poverty line ADAP leaves them after 2027 → $2,136/month — what an ADAP recipient must earn to match old AISH benefits (about 39 hours a week at minimum wage) → $200/month — the federal Canada Disability Benefit, clawed back dollar-for-dollar in Alberta. Net gain to recipients: $0 → $45,000 — the annual income ceiling before ADAP is fully eliminated (the highest of any comparable program in Canada — the government's strongest point) → 88% — the share of the maximum individual benefit each partner gets if both are on disability assistance, starting August 2026 → $98 million — total value of the two employment-services contracts awarded to foreign-owned firms SOURCES — Government of Alberta — AISH and ADAP program documents, Bill 12 — CBC News — Aisha Strange (June 22, 2026); multinational contractor procurement (Michelle Bellefontaine, June 26, 2026) — Gillian Petit, University of Calgary — poverty-line and employment-income analysis — Inclusion Alberta; disability advocates Zachary Weeks and Mike Wing — Market Basket Measure (Statistics Canada) — official poverty line — Motions from the cities of Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Lethbridge and Camrose calling for a pause If you or someone you support is affected by this transition, the details matter — this video lays them out in plain language. #Alberta #AISH #ADAP #AlbertaPolitics #DisabilityRights #PrairieWatchdog #Accountability #DanielleSmith #Disability #CostOfLiving -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prairie Watchdog is independent political journalism from the heart of Western Canada. No outside funding. No spin — just documented facts about the decisions being made in your name. We cover Alberta and prairie politics for everyday people: government accountability, public money, Indigenous rights, and the stories the mainstream media moves past too quickly. If something in this video is wrong, tell us. We correct the record. 📩 Tips, documents, corrections: [email protected] 📖 Read our work on Substack: prairiewatchdog.substack.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This channel accepts no government funding, party affiliation, or advertiser influence. Prairie Watchdog is funded by viewers like you.