Hey, I'm looking for information about HRDC's student loan forgiveness that I can use to write an article for The Province newspaper. By reading all the memos on this website and from my own experience, I know that HRDC pretty much never honours their disability benefit. Using the media, I'm trying to make this better known to the public so HRDC will start feeling some pressure to be more compassionate.

Right now I'm trying to gather information about what everybody experiences in their applications for the permanent disability benefit. Were you able to complete everything that was required? If so, was your student loan forgiven? If not, why didn't HRDC remit it? Do you still work or go to school? Was your student loan in default before you applied? Are you currently making any payments? Have physicians officially recorded that you have permanent disability? If you can give me any of this kind of information, it will help me write a truthful and accurate document about why HRDC hasn't been honouring their permanent disability benefit. I won't write about any of your personal information, but just use it to summarize our overall circumstances.

I plan to write this for The Province newspaper because they already want to interview me about what it's like experiencing prosopagnosia (inability to recognize people's faces). I'm thinking that if I agree to do that for them, they might be willing to publish this article for us as well.

So if you want to help me put some pressure on HRDC to be more compassionate for us, please give me any information you think would be good to have in the newspaper. If you wouldn't like to post any of your information here, feel free to e-mail it to me at mailto:crossr74@**** - I promise that any personal information you give me will remain strictly confidential. I just want to get as much information as I can so I can write an accurate and complete summary of our affairs with HRDC. If The Province agrees to post the article I write, I will put a copy of it here for you all to see.

What I hope is that HRDC will have some pressure to adjust their regulations and be more compassionate; if a person's disability temporarily restricts his or her ability to work, that period should be interest-free. Also, if that person was up to date on his or her payment schedule, then the account should continue being credited by the amount that was being paid until he or she can begin working again. Or, if a person is able to work but his or her disability significantly impairs the person's ability to succeed, then the principal should still have to be paid but with no interest. We can be sure HRDC won’t voluntarily initiate these kinds of changes themselves, so we have to put some external pressure on them. Please give me any information that you think will help me do so, and be motivated to do some of it yourself.

Rob