In this episode of Reimagining Disabled Futures, DAWN Canada continues its exploration of feminist economic recovery through a focus group conversation with women and gender-diverse people with disabilities. This episode is part of DAWN’s Feminist Economic Recovery Project, within the larger Mapping Our Future: A 10-Year Vision for Change for Women with Disabilities initiative.

Participants reflect on what it means to live well in the contextof disability, chronic illness, and systemic exclusion. The discussion surfaces the gap between survival and wellbeing, highlighting how housing insecurity, inaccessible transportation, rigid financial support programs, and constantsurveillance through disability systems undermine dignity and autonomy.

Across the conversation, participants emphasize that feminist recovery must go beyond COVID-19 recovery. It must address the structural conditions that make disabled people disproportionately housing- and food-insecure, whilecentring dignity, choice, community, and collective care.

Participants: Focus group participants from DAWN Canada’s Feminist Economic Recovery Project, representing diverse regions, disabilities, genders, and lived experiences.

Participants describe living well as more than meeting basic needs.

• Living well includes autonomy, dignity, security, rest, leisure, and community connection.
• Several participants note that “living well” feels out of reach when systems only allow for survival.
• Chronic illness and fluctuating disabilities complicate narrow definitions of wellness and productivity.

Housing is repeatedly identified as central to safety and dignity.

• Participants describe inaccessible housing, unaffordable rents, and long waitlists.
• Housing subsidies often fail to reflect real costs, forcing people to choose between rent and food.
• Institutional and congregate living arrangements are framed as non-solutions that remove autonomy and privacy.

Barriers to Accessing Essential Services - Participants share systemic barriers across:

• Transportation systems that remove individual choice and flexibility.
• Home care models that fail to account for fluctuating disabilities.
• Health systems that dismiss pain, particularly for women, racialized people, and gender-diverse participants.
• Immigration status and racism further compound exclusion from services.

Experiences with income assistance and disability programs reveal:

• Excessive paperwork, constant reviews, and fear of losing benefits.
• Restrictions on cohabitation that prevent partners from living together.
• Asset limits that make saving impossible and discourage part-time or flexible work.
• Medication and treatment coverage that excludes non-traditional or holistic care.

Participants highlight how:

• Housing insecurity increases vulnerability to gender-based violence.
• Financial dependence on partners undermines safety and feminist autonomy.
• Systems designed to “support” disabled people often reproduce harm and control.

Participants imagine recovery beyond existing systems.

• A guaranteed basic income indexed to the real cost of living.
• Housing that is accessible, affordable, and community-based.
• Flexible, part-time, and remote employment options.
• Reduced documentation, fewer hoops, and trust in disabled people’s decision-making.
• Investment in community organizations that support racialized and marginalized groups.
• A shift from profit-driven systems to people-centred care and joy.

This episode reinforces that feminist recovery must be rooted in disability justice. Participants make clear that recovery cannot be achieved through piecemeal reforms or surveillance-based programs. Living well requiresstructural change — including housing justice, income security, accessible care, and the right to live with dignity, connection, and choice.

The Feminist Economic Recovery Project explores how recovery strategies can be implemented through a feminist and disability justice lens.

Download the transcript.