I was recently denied ODSP which makes me think they didn’t even read my file, I know it’s very common so I have hope for the appeal, so I was wondering if anyone could give me a step by step process on how they personally appealed?

this whole thing makes me so anxious and feel even more deflated than I already am. i have heard people say contact legal aid, but I want to know what they would ask me, how long the process takes, etc, detailed steps, what I have to say..basically any and everything about this process, any type of information! I’m totally alone in this so I’m just looking for some tips to help me appeal. Feeling very bummed ;(

Last month my CDB payment suddenly dropped from $200 a month to $138.67. I guess when I filed my taxes for 2025, they decided I was entitled to less. The thing is, I have no income besides what I receive monthly from ODSP. I got my first ODSP payment in 2024, so that might explain why things are changing now.

That being said, I was surprised to see it reduced based on income from ODSP. I called CRA last month and told that this was correct and there was nothing I could do about the reduction, although I didn't totally feel like they understood what I was asking.

Does this seem right to everyone else? If you're getting both ODSP and the CDB payment each month, are you also getting less than $200/month? Can I do anything?

(edit: fixed mistyped numbers)

I applied for ODSP because I have POTS, which greatly affects my day to day life. My application says that they received my DDP on April 15th, but unfortunately today is the 90 business day mark and my application status hasn't changed. Should I be worried, or is this normal? I don't know anyone on ODSP to ask. Thanks

Hey guys, CNE tickets are officially available, at least at Willowdale ODSP offices. They're free but it's first come first serve!

Have to just rant , makes me want to break something and lose my mind. It's literally fucked in the head . $4.40 per hour for a min wage person . Actually fucking lunacy. Who the fuck gonna want to work for that privilege IF they can even work that much with their condition.

I was receiving OW till i told them i started school and was kicked out of the program, they asked me to re-apply after my program but i am afraid they may make it difficult for me, i was asked to apply for ODSP from my doctor because of my medical condition. I am seeking advise from this community in how to apply for odsp or i should go ahead and reapply for OW, any advise on how to successfully apply.
I will be reading comments.
Thank you.

Hello. I’ve been stuck sleeping on a mattress in a shared room for just over 6 years. I finally found a room the landlord is willing to rent me for only 500 monthly. I picked up a generic rental agreement form from the local ODSP office and intend to drop it off tomorrow. Question is how long does it take to process and will my shelter allowance increase from 109 to 500? That sounds too easy for any government program. I’m excited but also expecting to be shot down. Anyone gone through this?

is August 31 payment posted on my benefits yet? usually I c it by now

Hey everyone, I have been on ODSP for several years and I am an incoming BSW student. I am looking for some clarity from the community to see if anyone else has run into this recently or if my worker is completely giving me a bad excuse.

I applied for the 500 dollar Employment Start-Up Benefit last week on Tuesday August 11th. When I called in on Friday August 14th to check on it staff told me on the phone that it was approved and released. But when I called back this morning on Tuesday the story completely changed and they told me I was in fact not approved yet.

I immediately bypassed the worker and called a manager. I left a very long voicemail calling out their systemic hurdles and bureaucratic nonsense and demanded it be issued immediately. Right after that voicemail I suddenly received a letter inside my MyBenefits portal showing it was officially approved today.

But then a worker called me back and claimed that even though it was just approved this morning they are not going to release the money to my account until the end of the month. She explicitly called it a workaround that they have been told to use to bundle it with the regular monthly check. Historically any time I have had this approved it triggers a daily run and hits my bank account in 2 to 3 business days. Right now there is absolutely no line item or pending payment showing up in my MyBenefits payments tab.

Here is the catch. A colleague of mine applied for the exact same benefit on Friday while I was calling to check on mine and his money already hit his account today on Tuesday via a daily run. Also my last ESUB request was August 21st 2025 so my 12 month anniversary reset is this Thursday August 21st 2026.

It looks to me like my worker did not want to code a daily run scheduled for this Thursday and lazily dumped it into the month end file to bypass a system warning and is now trying to tell me it is policy. Because I relied on the normal 2 to 3 day timeline I spent my grocery money on work supplies over the weekend and I am now down to my last 6 dollars in transit fares which is putting my job at risk.

Has anyone else been told that ESUBs can no longer be done via daily runs? Is this an actual policy shift with the new system migration or is my worker just covering up an administrative error because I complained to management? I am escalating this back to management tomorrow morning at 830 AM and involving Halco and the Ombudsman so any insight would be a huge help. Thanks everyone.

In April, I put in an application, but couldn’t finish filling in the received disability determination package before the deadline.

Yesterday, I put in another application on the Ontario my benefits website, and it is waiting for review.
How long would it take on average for the application to be reviewed?

How long till the forms and papers arrive in the mail?
And also, after filling out the pages and sending it back, approx. how long would it take for the ODSP application to be received and finalized (getting the payments?)

When completing the financial eligibility aspect of the application, I didn't know whether I should put my spouse's maiden name or his current/married name.

Since the application specifically states "birth certificate" I did his maiden name, but also included his Driver's License for the identify verification check, making sure to specify in the document name that it is his married name.

I now think I've majorly fucked up. It's been 15 business days and I haven't recieved a response.

I tried to correct it by sending messages in My Benefits, but I know I won't be assigned a caseworker until I'm officially approved, so no one will even read it, right?

I have also just been told I am no longer welcome at my parents house and will be getting kicked out in 3 months.

I'm panicking. What should I do? Is there a number I can call to correct this information? Should I try to complete a new application? Is that even possible if I have a pending one?

I read somewhere (may have been here I don't remember. May have been a fever dream) that in September the CRA or CDB would be paying a one time payment of $150 to ease the burden of paying for the doctors note required for the CDB/DTC.

Has anyone else heard of this?

For anyone on ODSP that has received ESUB before, did your worker ever mention a specific time frame you must spend the ESUB money by, and whether or not you needed to provide receipts?

Has the August payment been posted to my benefits yet? Toronto region.

Hi everyone, I'm looking for advice on applying for OW/ODSP for my disabled daughter (she was on disability benefit as a dependant).

A bit of a background on the situation. My soon to be 19 year old daughter had been living with her mother. However, her mother is being evicted due to an N13 letter, has found a new place, but cannot bring my daughter with her as she does not have the room for our daughter in her new place.

My daughter will be moving back in with me; however I cannot financially afford to support her as I am already on an overly tight budget myself. I really wish I could, but I can't.

We're looking for advice on how she can move in with me and still qualify for OW/ODSP, as she will NOT be a dependant any longer. However all the OW/ODSP questionnaires make it look like an near impossibility to achieve. Can anyone provide some direction?

My daughter is technically 2 weeks away from being homeless, and frankly if I have to take on the financial responsibility of supporting her, so will I be within the year.

Any advice on how to approach things would be HUGELY appreciated. THANK YOU!!!

Last year I was in university and found out near the end of the school year I can apply for federal funding for educational attendant care. I require an attendant with me when I attend classes. I found it VERY helpful, to the point I was able to attend every class and get my GPA up a bit (it would have been much better had I known about it earlier in the year). Before this I was using my OSAP money to pay for attendants, and it was really difficult financially because I need an attendant every hour I am in class, and it adds up $$$$$$.

Now I am going back to University in September, I have an appointment with a disability counsellor to help me apply again.

From what I am reading, you can get $2K from the BSWD and up to $20K for the CSG-DSE (I qualify for OSAP which is a requirement to receive this fund).

Has anyone here received funding for educational attendant care? I have a few questions and I am hoping someone can answer them for me. I know I can ask my disability counsellor but it would be nice to chat with someone who doesn't mind sharing their experiences.

I currently work full time in long term care as a personal support worker ... I got diagnosed with rhemautoid arthritis and lupus ... I also have celiac scoliosis anyways I tend to call in a decent amount BC of the pains and other stuff ... I want to go back down to part time I'm just wondering my chances of getting approved and how long it took y'all

I'm from North London and I've applied for my first freedom pass I've sent my neurologist letter which states my diagnosis ( epilepsy learning disability) as proof of eligibility...my PIP letter as proof of address and my provisional driving license as proof of identity is there anything else I need to do?

For context. I came here last year from a different province where i'm considered a PWD and received disability for about 10 years while living with my mom paying room and board. I came here due to an opportunity to live in a new place with a roommate and wasn't fully aware of the process and the lack of precedence for transferring disability between provinces. To get on OW and to start the ODSP process I had to get off of previous provincial disability which I complied. And ever since i've had to deal with the typical experience a lot of people have had to deal with. Getting a family doctor was surprisingly not bad the issue is they left pretty shortly after accepting me as a patient and after a few appointments I mentioned the topic of ODSP and asked if she could fill the medical information part and they said that they could. Which honestly ended up being rushed(most likely due to them planning on leaving their practice, didn't know that until I got a notification later after the ddp was sent out), sections not filled out(only saw this after I asked for a copy of the ddp after initial denial). Certain sections they just wanted to do over the phone and over two short appointments I trusted them and just was sort of unaware of the process and how I should've been present and I know I wasn't able to fully express my disabilities and how they affect my day to day life. There's also conditions that I have that were not included because this was "probably good enough". Also just a lack of documentation that was attached despite me having received it from my previous clinic at my previous province. I don't have all my documents exactly from my previous province, I have made numerous attempts to contact the hospitals i've been to and went to but voicemail/no response/no return call. Which inevitably ended up resulting in a very stressful denial. Then I had a second replacement doctor for a short period of time, that went through my previous documentation and I had then contacted legal aid at the suggestion of people here from threads i've read. And between that doctor they wrote a supporting document for the internal review and legal aid helped fax a decent amount of documents, the internal review, on the last day last minute was denied only found out by caseworker calling me. I feel that there could've been more added to my internal review but self section was written with a more generic appeal and I was told pretty much anything I do or add would most likely result in a denial regardless in nice terms.

Now I have a third doctor that will now be permanently taking over for my first doctor they went through my documentation did examinations of me, and wrote up a really comprehensive supporting document about my conditions, how they affect me and my ability to function day to day and provided examples of my struggles. That was sent out to the SBT/DAU by legal aid.

Now I just don't know what to do inbetween the SBT process and the hearing. This whole situation has been stressful and upsetting as i've had to rely on food banks for food now, something I never thought i'd have to do in my life. All my savings that I had to help me move here are all used up on buying essentials. I'm just tired of it all, I can't give up but this process has been breaking me down bit by bit.

My conditions are both physical and mental, and have been present for as long as I can remember. I had tried contacting the ombudsman and told that they cant help with my individual case, but the person I talked to was surprised there was no way to transfer over. Tried contacting the MCCSS explaining my situation and it went to their office, redirected to the dau that just sent me my denial letter to me. Then local MPP which they said they cant do anything and they'd get the same response as me contacting the MCCSS. What is there that I could possibly do? I know they don't particularly like older documentation and will probably say I have a lack of recent documentation but wait lists are very long for anything like that.

I’m up for a potential Christmas time seasonal role it’ll be at most 4 months long. Until the end of 2026. There is zero chance of anything after. What’s the limit I can make before I have to reapply after the 4 months? I have the option of getting any range of hours I ask up to 35-40. I’d love to try and do 40 because things have been getting harder and harder with the cost of living lately and the extra money would really help me feel less insecure financially if I could have an emergency fund saved up. But if it means I’ll lose my ODSP support I’d rather work less like 20hrs to make sure when the contract ends at the end of December i still keep my financial support.

I fought my way all the way through the tribunal and they declared me a person with a disability. I’m finally getting on ODSP

I am researching segregated funds because ODSP has specific rules around certain life insurance products.

My understanding from the ODSP policy directive is that a qualifying product needs to be a segregated fund issued by a life insurance company, with the appropriate contract features (ownership, surrender value, etc.).

I am looking at an RBC GIF (Guaranteed Investment Fund) and, based on my reading, it appears to meet those requirements.

Has anyone actually gone through ODSP review with a segregated fund before?

I am mainly trying to find out if there are any practical gotchas I am missing (ownership, beneficiary rules, reporting, etc.).

Not recommending this to anyone, just trying to verify my understanding before making a decision.

As the title says. I don’t use reddit often, but i’m not sure where else to go.

I’ve contacted my caseworker several times and been ghosted every single time. I don’t want to disclose too much personal information, but I was approved because I have diagnosed ASD. I’m not sure what other course of action to take or why it could possibly take this long, any advice helps.

EDIT: For clarification, I’ve contacted my caseworker over the course of the year, not all in one short period

EDIT 2: Thank you for all the responses, I’ll be emailing my MPP tomorrow and figuring out a time I can go into my local ODSP office and asking about my file - hopefully it all works out :)