I like Alan Rowell's (see The Accounting Place.net) suggestion of an amended name, namely "Restricted Quality of Life Tax Credit"
http://www.theaccountingplace.net/index.php/the-truth-about-disability-tax-credits/


I believe there's a much easier option that's already right in front of our noses and it's already enshrined in the legislation, so it's not a stretch to embrace it. It even has a positive spin, as it's not a 'dis-ability' it's impairment in function or impairment in ability.



The Income Tax Act refers to an 'impairment in physical or mental function' in S. 118.3

http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/I-3.3/section-118.3.html

S.118.3 never mention disability...it discusses an impairment in function, the effects of which are such that the individual's ability to perform a basic activity of daily living is markedly restricted...or one or more basic activities are significantly restricted where the cumulative effect of those restrictions is equivalent to a marked restriction... (cumulative effects available since 2005)

During the short tenure of the Disability Advisory Committee, all three meetings in 2005 and early 2006, before we were along with every other committee that advised CRA, abolished, I pushed for a change to 'impairment in ability' but wasn't successful. There is much money tied up in the use and image of the word 'disability' by many stakeholders. Our committee continued to meet informally every month until the end of 2010, but without the formality of advising the minister of revenue, it was successful in that significant improvements were made in communications with qualified medical practitioners, and a list of these QP's by province has been published. I would have liked to have seen appropriate formatting or forms for QPs on how to 'certify in writing' various medical expenses, many of which require 'certification in writing' to be allowable, but that wasn't to be.

We did get achieve a shift from a focus on what they called the 'disability community' to a recognition that impairment in ability may touch every family in Canada, so who on earth was this mythical 'disability community' other than stakeholders, with a career, a vested interest in continuing their service provisions to persons with an impairment in ability. As a result, the name of the RC4064 guide was changed from its former title to Medical and Disability-Related Information. Recognition that there are over 150 medical expenses and only four of them require the DTC certification was a huge leap forward. Many of the stakeholders in that 'disability community' had no idea that medical expenses were of such a broad scope. Narrowing that scope by restricting claims for many categories to require 'certification in writing' was undertaken and the change to exclude cosmetic procedures as of March 4, 2010 were also as a result of these discussions. I asked why children with a learning disability couldn't claim a computer, but a millionaire could claim their expensive cosmetic surgeries, tummy tucks, face lifts, body parts lifting and even teeth whitening. Unfortunately while disallowing cosmetic procedures, the learning disability community wasn't granted dispensation for computers for kids, which these days have come down significantly in price with the advent of NetBooks and iPads.