Reforming Disability Income Support in Alberta for Employment and Equity

The Government of Alberta has proposed the Alberta Disability Assistance Program (ADAP) to reform its disability income support system, restructuring the current Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) program into a two-tiered system. ADAP would support individuals assessed as able to work while AISH would continue to serve those assessed as unable to work. The reforms involve changes to benefit amounts, earnings exemptions, appeal rights and access to medical benefits. The government’s stated objectives, improving fiscal sustainability and increasing employment participation, reflect legitimate policy priorities, given AISH’s $1.6 billion annual cost and the recognized need for better employment supports among people with disabilities.

However, the analysis presented in this paper indicates that ADAP’s specific design features are unlikely to achieve these objectives and may undermine both goals. Drawing on the 2017 and 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability, the paper shows that many Albertans with disabilities experience financial insecurity, poor or fair mental health and precarious employment, realities that do not align with ADAP’s assumptions about work capacity. International evidence from the United Kingdom’s work capability assessments demonstrates that similar two-tiered systems have produced adverse mental health outcomes, high rates of assessment error and administrative inefficiency.

The paper further identifies two structural gaps in ADAP’s design: the absence of employer-side obligations to create accessible workplaces, and policy design choices, including reduced benefit levels, lower earnings exemptions and weakened appeal mechanisms, that may discourage employment rather than support it.