Disability Services
Understanding the Services Available for Persons with Disabilities is Crucial to Accessing Them
While there are a vast number of resources available that can provide valuable information and services for persons with disabilities, figuring out how to access and organize them can be challenging, because they’re spread out across so many organizations and websites.
Before you can access disability services, it’s important to understand the eligibility requirements.
What Conditions Qualify for Disability Services?
Some disability services have specific requirements in order to apply that are unique to them. For instance, CPP Disability Benefits require you to have contributed to the CPP fund in order to be eligible to apply.
Most disability services require that you have a disability that prevents you from working regularly or participating in parts of the community. Also, your disability must be long-term, have an indefinite duration or be potentially life-threatening.
This encompasses a wide range of disabilities, in varying levels of severity. Here are some examples of disabilities that are eligible for disability services in Canada:
- Chronic pain conditions
- Spinal cord injury (SCI)
- Heart disease
- Knee or joint disorders
- Bipolar mood disorder
- Back problems
- Lupus
- Chronic headaches or migraines
- Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
- Visual disorders or vision problems
- Psoriatic arthritis
- Fibromyalgia
- Crohn’s disease
- Chronic fatigue syndrome
- Vestibular disorders
- Lyme disease
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Multiple sclerosis
- Down’s syndrome
- Autism
- Complex regional pain syndrome
- Chronic or severe depression
- Neck and cervical disorders
- Sleep disorders
As you can see, the range of disabilities that qualify is quite broad, and this list is only a portion of the conditions that could meet eligibility requirements.
Looking for Educational Resources Surrounding Disabilities?
Cortree Offers Many Useful Learning Plans & Training Tools
What Kinds of Services are Available for Persons with Disabilities?
Now that you understand more about eligibility requirements for disability services, let’s discuss some of the different services that are available in Canada.
Chronic Pain Services
Possibly the most difficult aspect of daily life for people with disabilities is managing chronic pain.
Cortree offers a variety of free resources that you can use to help understand chronic pain, as well as teach you some important techniques for managing your pain.
As well, there are a number of pain clinics across Canada that specialize in helping you create a long-term plan of action for managing your chronic pain from day-to-day.
Disability Programs
For those that are eligible, there are many beneficial disability programs that can be accessed through the Government of Canada.
Some useful disability programs include:
- Disability Tax Credit (DTC)
- Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Disability Benefits
- Child Disability Benefits (CDB)
- Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP)
Disability Support Services
In addition to helpful disability programs, there are some wonderful disability support services available in Canada.
Some of these services include:
- Education funding
- Disability support for Veterans
- Federal Excise Gas Tax Refund
- Canada Disability Savings Grants & Bonds
- Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP)
- Disability Support Workers
You can find more information about how to apply for these disability services, and how to find a disability support worker on our disability support page here.
Accessible Housing Services
for Persons with Disabilities
There are many great housing services for persons with disabilities in Ontario, which are designed for accessibility and inclusivity.
Information Regarding
Spinal Cord Injury (SCI)
Every spinal cord injury is unique. These can range from traumatic to non-traumatic, complete to incomplete and an SCI can happen at any level of the spine.
If you or a loved one has sustained a SCI, Cortree has resources that you can use to help improve your quality of life, while learning to manage your daily routine with a spinal cord injury.
You can find more information regarding an SCI, how they are classified, as well as some resources that can assist with understanding the recovery process on our spinal cord injury page here.
Some of Your Frequently Asked Questions for Cortree
Yes, you will. Signing up is quick and easy. You can register here. Once we’ve got your request, we’ll send you a welcome email that includes your username and a temporary password for you to use.
Before you seek help, make sure that you’re entering your log-in information exactly as it was created. Because your log-in credentials are case sensitive, it’s always good to check and make sure that your caps lock isn’t on.
For forgotten passwords, you can use the password reset function built directly into the log-in screen to choose a new password. Just follow the prompts as they appear for the next steps to getting back into your account.
In the case where you’ve forgotten your username and password, click on the help button; we can email your account information to you.
Most of the time, if you register during normal business hours (EST), we’ll do our best to send your welcome email by the end of the same day (sometimes within the hour).
However, if you registered outside business hours, we’ll likely be sending the welcome email to you during the next business day.
Once in a while, email filters sort new emails you receive into your junk mail folders without notifying you. If it’s been more than a full business day since you registered, check your junk and spam folders.
When all else fails, email [email protected] about the issue. One of us will follow up with you as soon as we can.
We definitely do! We welcome the opportunity to work with new sponsors, especially when it involves developing new content.
If you’d like to inquire about sponsorships, email [email protected] and we’ll follow up directly with you to discuss possible partnership opportunities.
How Do I Find Disability Services Near Me?
Finding local resources for disability services can be more challenging, and sometimes can make you feel overwhelmed. But don’t worry! Cortree is here to help.
Reach out to us, and we can help direct you towards services and resources that can help. We also have a great variety of disability education and training courses, which can be a fantastic learning tool for you and your loved ones to find new ways to make everyday life more accessible.
