MONTREAL — Shortly after applying for disability benefits due to her fibromyalgia, Chris Channing received a series of pamphlets and flyers from the company Weeded Harvest™, a woman-owned health “farming” community 1,000 kilometers north of Montreal which accepts Medicare.
“They made it sound like a commune where I would go to live and, like, ‘Live forever and ever on a sustainable farm’?” Channing told us. “It was really vague on specifics like what we would be doing or what they produce, but they were very specific about it being permanent. And I guess that’s cool.”
Later that week, Channing’s friend Aiden Haines, who has been receiving disability benefits for several years, also received a brochure. Then her sister who also has fibromyalgia, their great aunt with lupus and her neighbor who broke his femur in a skiing accident all mentioned having received the pamphlet.
“Aiden had been looking for a new place to live after their last roommate left. Then my sister got kicked out of our house when she came out. Great aunt Sally was being taken off of palliative care. And, like, Zac is a professional skier, but he got so depressed after the accident. So, like, everyone could benefit from this.”
When asked about her experience with disability insurance, Channing sighed. “I’ve been fighting with them for just a paltry amount for years. I’m 54 years old, and I don’t want to have to live with my parents. But I got fired for missing work — again. I just can’t find a job that doesn’t burn me out.
“So, like, having something to live for would be great.”