Organizing survival and resistance in austere times: shifting disability activism and care politics in Ontario,Canada

Following the 2008 financial crisis, all levels of Canadian government implemented austerity measures that dramatically restructured welfare, employment, and social service infrastructures. This has significantly affected how disabled people access services. We argue that this restructuring has been an impetus for new forms of disability activism and care politics in Ontario as disabled people fight for services necessary for survival. We discuss examples of politicized forms of care and resistance in Ontario, namely self-care, the Ontario Direct Funding programme, and collective forms of care. We contend that while these examples of care can be practical modes of resistance, they can all be co-opted and restructured to suit neoliberal ideologies and must therefore be continually interrogated.