Eligibility
Do you qualify? Read this before you pay anyone to tell you.
Eligibility is decided by the effect of an impairment on daily life — never by a diagnosis. Below is what the Canada Revenue Agency actually asks, in the CRA’s own terms.
There are three ways in
A medical practitioner must certify that you meet one of these. Most people only ever hear about the first.
1. A marked restriction
A severe and prolonged impairment that markedly restricts you in one of the categories listed below.
2. Cumulative effect
Significant limitations in two or more categories that, added together, are equivalent to a marked restriction in one. This is the route most people miss.
3. Life-sustaining therapy
Therapy that supports a vital function, needed an average of at least 14 hours a week.
The two tests that decide most applications
Almost every refusal turns on one of these two thresholds. Understanding them is the difference between an application that succeeds and one that does not.
The CRA generally interprets this as at least 90% of the time. If the limitation is not present at least 90% of the time, the criteria may not be met. Good days do not disqualify you — but the honest overall picture has to reach that threshold.
Generally, taking at least three times longer than a person of similar age without the impairment. So the question is not “can you dress yourself?” — it is “does it take you three times as long as it takes someone your age who is not impaired?”
Both tests are applied even with appropriate therapy, devices, and medication. Your abilities are judged with your wheelchair, hearing aids, prosthetic, or medication in use — not without them. People frequently describe their best-case, fully-equipped day and are refused on that description, when the honest answer to the CRA’s actual question would have qualified them.
“Prolonged” means the impairment has lasted, or is expected to last, a continuous period of at least 12 months.
The categories
These are the categories the CRA assesses. Open any one for what it covers.
Walking
The ability to walk a short distance — the CRA uses 100 metres, roughly one city block, as its reference — on level ground, with the aid of appropriate devices. Pain, stopping to rest, and the time it takes all count.
Mental functions necessary for everyday life
This is far broader than most people assume. It covers adaptive functioning, attention, concentration, memory, judgement, perception of reality, problem solving, goal setting, regulation of behaviour and emotions, and verbal and non-verbal comprehension. Conditions such as severe depression, PTSD, bipolar disorder, autism, ADHD, dementia, and acquired brain injury are assessed here — on their effects, not their labels.
Dressing
Dressing and undressing yourself, with appropriate devices. Being unable to do it, or taking an inordinate amount of time, both count.
Feeding
Feeding yourself, which includes preparing food — though it does not include the time spent shopping for it, or any dietary restriction taken purely as a lifestyle choice.
Eliminating (bowel or bladder functions)
Personally managing bowel or bladder functions. The CRA’s own examples include needing a catheter and urinary incontinence. This category can be certified by a medical doctor or a nurse practitioner.
Hearing
The ability to hear so as to understand a spoken conversation in a quiet setting, with the use of appropriate devices. Can be certified by an audiologist.
Speaking
The ability to speak so as to be understood in a quiet setting, with the use of appropriate devices. Can be certified by a speech-language pathologist.
Vision
This category has hard numbers rather than a judgement call. Eligibility is based on being considered blind: even with corrective lenses or medication, both eyes meet at least one of — visual acuity of 20/200 or worse, or a greatest diameter of the field of vision of 20 degrees or less. Can be certified by an optometrist.
Life-sustaining therapy
Therapy that supports a vital function, needed an average of at least 14 hours a week. Two details matter enormously when counting those hours:
- Only time taken away from normal, everyday activities for the purposes of the therapy counts.
- Where a medication requires a dosage that must be adjusted daily, time spent determining the dosage and administering it can be counted toward the 14 hours.
Cumulative effect of significant limitations
This combines the effects of two or more impairments where no single one meets the marked-restriction bar on its own. It does not include life-sustaining therapy.
The CRA’s own illustration: you always take a long time walking, dressing, and feeding yourself. No single one of those is a marked restriction — but together they are equivalent to being unable, or taking an inordinate amount of time, in one category. That is eligible.
If you have been refused before on a single category, this is the route worth re-examining.
Who can certify what
You do not always need a family doctor. Several regulated professionals can certify within their scope, which matters if you cannot get a timely appointment.
| Practitioner | Can certify |
|---|---|
| Medical doctor | All impairments |
| Nurse practitioner | All impairments |
| Optometrist | Vision |
| Audiologist | Hearing |
| Occupational therapist | Walking, feeding, dressing |
| Physiotherapist | Walking |
| Psychologist | Mental functions |
| Speech-language pathologist | Speaking |
You are responsible for any fee your practitioner charges to complete the form — but you may be able to claim that fee as a medical expense on your tax return. Ask for a receipt. This is an entirely different thing from a company charging you a percentage of your refund.
Why applications fail
In our experience the most common reason is not ineligibility — it is description. A practitioner who writes “patient has arthritis” has told the CRA a diagnosis. A practitioner who writes that their patient takes more than three times as long as an unimpaired person of the same age to dress, on at least 90% of days, even using aids, has answered the question the CRA is actually asking.
Helping you and your practitioner get that description right, accurately and without exaggeration, is most of what we do — and we do it for free.
This page summarises the CRA’s published criteria in plain language and is not tax or medical advice. Only the CRA determines eligibility. The authoritative source is Who is eligible — Disability tax credit and guide RC4064, Disability-Related Information.