{"id":825167,"date":"2026-07-25T12:05:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T12:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/825167\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T12:05:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T12:05:10","slug":"the-government-has-two-definitions-of-disability-advocates-say-it-leaves-people-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/825167\/","title":{"rendered":"The government has two definitions of disability. Advocates say it leaves people out."},"content":{"rendered":"

The Accessible Canada Act defines a disability as any \u201cphysical, mental, intellectual, cognitive, learning, communication or sensory impairment \u2014 or a functional limitation \u2014 whether permanent, temporary or episodic in nature, or evident or not,\u201d that hinders a person\u2019s full and equal participation in society.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

But while the benefit law shares the Accessible Canada Act\u2019s definition of disability, it uses a much narrower definition when deciding who is actually eligible to claim the benefit.<\/p>\n

The benefit program\u2019s eligibility rules require that a claimant be approved for the Canada Disability Tax Credit, which defines disability as a marked restriction that \u201cis present all or almost all of the time (generally at least 90 per cent).\u201d<\/p>\n

That leaves out people like Amanda Fraser.<\/p>\n

Fraser was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 12 years ago. She has been on long-term disability since 2020, when she was forced to leave her career as a registered nurse because of the disease\u2019s progression. <\/p>\n

Fraser\u2019s problem is that \u2014 like most people with MS \u2014 she has what is considered an episodic disability, meaning its symptoms vary from day to day and week to week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last week, yes, 90 per cent of the time I\u2019ve been using an electric wheelchair to get around my home. I\u2019ve needed my husband to cook our meals and do dishes, and had my mother-in-law come by to help,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut two weeks ago, I was doing that all on my own.\u201d<\/p>\n

MS Canada has pushed for years for the federal government to recognize episodic disabilities in its benefit programs. Fraser, who volunteers with the group as an advocate, has travelled to Ottawa to meet with MPs. <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery member of Parliament that I personally met with agrees that we need to be included on it and doesn\u2019t understand the bureaucratic mismatch,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Dr. Kelly O\u2019Brien is the Canada Research Chair in episodic disability and rehabilitation, and a professor in the department of physical therapy at the University of Toronto.<\/p>\n

Her research into episodic disabilities focuses on patients with HIV and, more recently, long COVID. She said episodic disabilities are not well understood.<\/p>\n

\u201cDepending on the features of health challenges, things such as fatigue or headaches (or) cognitive dysfunction may not be visible or constant, which makes it particularly challenging for individuals to articulate their health challenges,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The government did not make Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu available for an interview. In a statement, her office praised the benefit program but did not address questions about why the definitions differ. <\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Jobs and Families Department said in an email that the \u201cdefinition of disability in the (Canada Disability Benefit Act) is not a criterion used to determine if someone is eligible for the Canada Disability Benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fraser said the mismatch doesn\u2019t make sense.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been approved by the federal government that I am disabled, and can qualify for something like the (Canada) Pension Plan Disability, but then under the same federal government, they use a different definition,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 25, 2026.<\/p>\n

Sarah Ritchie, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Accessible Canada Act defines a disability as any \u201cphysical, mental, intellectual, cognitive, learning, communication or sensory impairment…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":825168,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":["post-825167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=825167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/825168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=825167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=825167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=825167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}