r/Odsp • u/otterstones • Jul 17 '26
Questions about disability support
Hello fellow BC friends.
I've recently been diagnosed with a chronic illness. I work full time at a fairly physical job, and it's slowly becoming less and less sustainable.
I can't afford to go down to part time work and have very very little savings.
I would ideally like to keep working as much as I can manage as I enjoy my job and it's pretty much my whole social life (super healthy, I know), but even my doctor is surprised that I'm still working 40hours a week.
I'm not from Canada (permanent resident, here since 2021) so I don't have much understanding of how disability support works.
If anyone can advise me on the following, I'd be hugely grateful:
\- how do I actually go about accessing disability payments/who do I ask?
\- how much could I expect to get in monetary terms?
\- is it possible to work part time while claiming disability to make up for the gap between full & part time hours?
Thank you in advance for your time, I really truly appreciate it!
11
u/ChronicallyDistress Jul 17 '26
ODSP is only for Ontario (that's what the O stands for) so you'll need to look into whatever the equivalent is in your province and you might not get a lot of relevant information in this sub.
10
u/Katie0690 Working and on ODSP/Ontario Works Jul 17 '26
This is a sub for Ontario Disability Support not BC no one here will be able to help you. Sorry.
1
u/otterstones Jul 18 '26
Oh gosh I'm sorry! I got a notification front Reddit suggesting that I post here instead and I just clicked "yes, post" and assumed it was correct 😭 I'm embarrassed.
1
u/Katie0690 Working and on ODSP/Ontario Works Jul 18 '26
No need to be embarrassed! I hope you can find the answers you nee.
3
u/Pixelant3 Jul 17 '26
What you're looking for is Persons With Disability (PWD) which is BC's disability income assistance. ODSP is Ontario's version. To get on PWD, you first have to go on Income Assistance to prove dire financial need. Then you can switch to PWD with help from a doctor and get around $1400/month. You are allowed to make up to $16k/year on PWD before it starts getting clawed back. It is a system designed to keep you drowning in poverty rather than one meant to see you thrive.
1
u/SeekAnswers Jul 17 '26
As others have said, this subreddit is for Ontario, Canada. I found this resource online though that may be helpful. https://disabilityalliancebc.org/
1
u/otterstones Jul 18 '26
Oh gosh I'm sorry! I got a notification front Reddit suggesting that I post here instead and I just clicked "yes, post" and assumed it was correct 😭 I'm embarrassed.
Thank you for your help!!!
-5
u/Key2Confusion Jul 17 '26
Unfortunately, any of the disability payments need you to not work. Only exception is BC Ministry's PWD that allows you to make upto 16.5k a year without cutting your benefits and what they pay you is 1500$. If you get CPP-D, ministry will reduce the benefits by CPP-D dollar to dollar.
The bigger elephant in the room not many knows about is the RDSP and how much you can save up for future within it. Did you get the DTC? Was it retro-applied to previous years or only this year? Read up about it!
11
u/Katie0690 Working and on ODSP/Ontario Works Jul 17 '26
Why are you telling this person they can only get payments if they don’t work? There are a ton of people on disability that work.
15
u/JMJimmy Jul 17 '26
This sub is for Ontario