AISH, ADAP, and What You Can Do Right Now: Resources and Actions
I have been living with cerebral palsy my entire life. I have navigated systems, filled out forms, waited for decisions, and watched policies change in ways that affected me and people I care about deeply. So when I say that what is happening right now with AISH and ADAP is serious, I am not saying it as an observer. I am saying it as someone who understands what stability means when your body requires support that costs money every single day.
The changes introduced through Bill 12 and the upcoming Alberta Disability Assistance Program (ADAP) are not abstract. They affect rent. They affect medication. They affect the quiet, dignified ability to plan your life without fear of what the next government decision might take away.
This post is my attempt to put everything in one place. The resources, the context, and the actions. Whether you are just starting to understand what is happening or you are ready to do something about it, I hope this is useful to you.
First, Learn What Is Actually Happening
Understanding the legislation is the first step. I wrote a full plain-language breakdown of Bill 12 that goes through the changes section by section, including what the two-tier system actually means, why the removal of appeal rights matters, and what this could look like in real life for disabled Albertans.
You can read it here: Bill 12 and ADAP: The Biggest Rewrite of Disability Supports in Alberta in 20 Years
We Advocate Podcast: A Voice for Clarity and Change
If you prefer to learn by listening, the We Advocate podcast by VanderLeek Law is one of the most valuable resources out there right now.
It is hosted by Gordon VanderLeek, a Calgary wills and estates lawyer, and Annie VanderLeek, a disability advocate. Together, they cover the intersection of law, policy, and lived experience in a way that is honest and genuinely accessible. What I appreciate about this podcast is that it brings both a legal lens and a personal one to the same conversation. They are not just talking about policy in theory. They are helping people understand their rights, their options, and what these changes mean for real life.
Recent episodes have covered AISH, ADAP, guardianship, trusteeship, and long-term planning, all in plain language.
If you are navigating this system, or supporting someone who is, I genuinely recommend it. You can find it at disabilityadvocates.ca/pages/we-advocate or subscribe on your favourite podcast platform.
A Critical Missed Opportunity: Bill 206 and the Accessible Alberta Act
There is something that needs to be said here, because it speaks directly to why ADAP is so troubling.
On March 12, 2026, St. Albert NDP MLA Marie Renaud introduced Bill 206, the Accessible Alberta Act. The bill was straightforward. It would have required the Government of Alberta to create an Accessibility Standards Committee, with a majority of members being people with disabilities, to develop clear standards across employment, transportation, housing, health, and education. Its goal was a barrier-free Alberta by 2040.
Alberta remains one of only two provinces in Canada without accessibility legislation, alongside Prince Edward Island. That is not a minor gap. It is a foundational one. I have said this publicly, and I will keep saying it: you cannot build meaningful employment pathways for disabled Albertans without first building the infrastructure that makes those pathways actually accessible.
On March 23, the UCP government voted the bill down. Every single UCP member voted against it. The debate lasted less than 20 minutes.
Let that sink in for a moment. Decades of advocacy from the disability community. A bill that mirrored legislation already passed in most of the country. And the government could not find 20 minutes to take it seriously.
This was not simply a no vote. It was a dismissal. The government's arguments centred on cost, process, and existing plans, presented as prudence. But if existing measures were truly effective and delivering meaningful change, there would be no need for legislation like Bill 206 in the first place. What the vote actually signals is a preference for flexibility over accountability, and discretion over rights. When accessibility is left to government discretion rather than enshrined in law, it becomes optional. And optional is not good enough.
Reports of dismissive behaviour in the chamber during the debate made it worse. A critical human rights matter reduced to bureaucratic talking points in under 20 minutes is not governance. It is avoidance.
This matters enormously in the context of ADAP. The government's stated rationale for ADAP is helping disabled Albertans access employment. But how are people supposed to get and keep jobs when there is no legal framework requiring workplaces, buildings, transit systems, or hiring processes to be accessible? Renaud put it plainly during debate: Alberta does not have legislation to ensure workplaces are accessible, and people with disabilities already face higher rates of unemployment, yet the government has not made the investments needed to change that.
You cannot push people toward employment and simultaneously vote down the legislation that would make employment actually reachable. Those two things cannot coexist honestly.
A 2022 report commissioned by Treasury Board and Finance found that disabled Albertans already account for 500,000 jobs and contribute significantly to Alberta's GDP, and that those with the potential to work could contribute an additional $8.5 billion in labour income if the right supports and infrastructure were in place. The Accessible Alberta Act was a step toward making that real. The government walked away from it in less time than it takes to watch a television episode.
I want to acknowledge something before moving on. A lot of people in this community are feeling frustrated, hurt, and disheartened right now. Those feelings are valid. This was a difficult day, and pretending otherwise would not be honest. But this is not the end of the movement. It is a reminder of why the movement exists and why it has to keep going.
Renaud has said she is not stopping. Barrier-Free Alberta has said they are not stopping. And neither am I. Neither should you.
What You Can Do Right Now
Reading and listening matter. But so does acting. Here are five things you can do today.
1. Email Your MLA: Halt ADAP
This is one of the most direct things you can do. Barrier Free Alberta has built an email campaign that makes it simple to contact your MLA and urge them to halt ADAP's introduction.
You do not need to know exactly what to say. The campaign does that for you. What matters is that your MLA hears from you. Elected representatives pay attention when their inboxes fill up, and right now that matters more than ever.
Send your email to your MLA here.
2. Sign the Open Letter to Cancel ADAP
This one carries real weight, and I want you to understand why.
The open letter calling on the Premier and Members of the Legislative Assembly to cancel ADAP was written and signed by former members of the Premier's Council on the Status of Persons with Disabilities and former leaders in Alberta's disability programs. These are not outsiders. These are people who built these systems from the inside, who know how they work, and who are saying publicly and clearly that this is wrong.
Here is what the letter makes plain. ADAP proposes cutting monthly income support from $1,940 to $1,740 — a 10 per cent reduction — at a time when living costs have risen between 7 and 19 per cent across Alberta. In Calgary, that cut would push people below the deep poverty line. The earned income exemption drops from $1,072 per month under AISH to just $350 per month under ADAP, meaning many people would actually earn less overall even if they work the same hours. All 79,000 people currently on AISH would be required to move, some needing to reprove their disability through a new assessment, with no right to appeal final eligibility decisions.
The letter asks the government to cancel ADAP, preserve AISH, and only introduce changes after genuine consultation with disabled Albertans.
Nearly 5,000 people have already signed. The goal is 10,000. Please add your name.
3. Ask Your Municipal Council to Act: Use Our Free Template
This one is for everyone across Alberta, no matter where you live.
Municipal councils have a voice in this conversation, and I want to make it as easy as possible for people to use it. I have put together a free Notice of Motion template that anyone can download and bring to their local city council or send directly to their councillor. It asks the provincial government to reconsider the changes to AISH and halt the introduction of ADAP.
You do not need experience with municipal government to use it. The template does the heavy lifting. You just need to get it into the right hands.
I am pleased to say Notices of Motion have recently been introduced in communities like Red Deer and Calgary (in addition to Edmonton, Lethbridge, Clairesholm and Camrose). Every municipality that passes one sends a signal to the province that this issue is not limited to Edmonton or to advocacy organizations. It lives in every community where disabled Albertans live, work, and belong.
If your council passes a motion, please let me know. The more we can show this is happening across the province, the stronger the message becomes.
Download the Template Letter for Municipal Government for Notice of Motion to Pause ADAP
Download the free Notice of Motion template here
4. Join PADA: The People's Alliance for Disabled Albertans
If you want to be part of something ongoing, not just a single action but a real community of people working together, PADA is where that is happening.
PADA, the People's Alliance for Disabled Albertans, is disability-led and built from the ground up by and for disabled Albertans. It is not a top-down organization. It is a collective space where people connect, share information, and respond to policy changes together. For those who cannot safely advocate alone due to health, poverty, or fear of retaliation, PADA offers a collective voice and a network of support.
The alliance is rooted in community, advocacy, education, and accountability. It centres lived experience in everything it does, because decisions about disability supports should never be made without disabled people at the table.
In a moment like this one, community is not a nice-to-have. It is essential.
5. Share This Post
I know it sounds small. It is not.
Every person who reads this and understands what is at stake is one more person who might sign a letter, email an MLA, download a template, or simply show up for someone in their life who needs support. Disability policy does not only affect disabled people. It affects families, caregivers, communities, and everyone who believes that how we treat the most vulnerable among us says something real about who we are.
Share this with someone who needs it. That is advocacy too.
Why This Matters
I grew up watching policies shape the lives of people like me. I have seen what happens when systems are built with good intentions and what happens when they are quietly hollowed out while the language stays warm and supportive.
What is happening right now is not modernization. It is not empowerment. Cutting income support by $200 a month while voting down the legislation that would make employment genuinely accessible is not a pathway to independence. It is a contradiction dressed up in the language of opportunity.
The people who signed that open letter are not radicals. They are the people who built Alberta's disability support systems from ALL political stripes throughout history. When they say this is wrong, it is worth taking seriously.
And when a government votes down accessibility legislation while simultaneously telling disabled Albertans they need to go find work, that deserves to be named for what it is.
We are not going away. And we will remember.
If this post was useful to you, please pass it along. Sometimes the most powerful thing we can do for each other is share a little clarity. 💚
