I just started receiving SSI, so I'm not too familiar with the rules that dictate how much you get paid. I get paid 1500 a month: 750 for my disability and 750 for survivor benefits.

Where do you live? In Canada, it depends on your province, where you live, if you have a guide dog or not, if you have dietary issues, and so on.

While the rules are always changing, and different government employees will tell you contradictory things, this is my most recent understanding of what the rules are in Ontario right now. In Ontario, a blind person will receive anywhere from $500 to $1000 per month depending on circumstance. To get the highest amount possible, you must live alone, pay $600 in rent per month (the average rent in Toronto is $1,461 for a one bedroom apartment), and have a doctor certify that you have special dietary needs. Then you can get $1000. Of course, rent alone is usually more than $1000. If you work, you can make up to $500 per month, and continue getting benefits. If you make anything more than that, what you make will be taken off of your monthly check. To remain on benefits, you may not own more than $5000 worth of assets at any time, with the exception of savings in a Registered Disability Savings plan. That's one of those plans where you put in money, and can't withdraw it for at least 10 years. So in short, blind people on social assistance in Ontario can't save, can't really own things, and often need to resort to food banks and other charities just to survive, unless they have some other method of support (extremely cheap rent somehow, perhaps by making some deal with friends or family who own property, etc, etc).