Mental functions necessary for everyday life
Disclaimer
We do not guarantee the accuracy of this copy of the CRA website.
Scraped Page Content
Mental functions necessary for everyday life
A person suffering from clinical depression for a period of three months who is responding well enough to medication to be able to continue living alone would not qualify for the disability tax credit (DTC). While this person is clearly having difficulty with some mental functions, the fact that the person is able to care for himself or herself means that the person's adaptive functioning is not markedly restricted at this point in time. Also, the medical condition is not prolonged as it hasn't lasted, nor is it expected to last, for a continuous period of at least 12 months.
A child with behavioural problems who has been treated with medication and therapy for over a year and whose behaviour at home has improved would not qualify for the DTC. Although the child's condition has been present for over a year and is likely to continue into the near future, the impairment cannot be seen to exist all or substantially all of the time (at least 90% of the time), because there is improvement and there is clearly a difference in behaviours between school and home.
However, a person exhibiting dementia, who coincidentally also suffers from diabetes and is unable to maintain his or her diabetes logbook or keep track of his or her glucose levels and insulin usage and who must rely on someone else to provide required care, may qualify for the DTC. In this case, the patient qualifies because his or her impairment affects both his or her adaptive functioning and memory to the extent that he or she is unable to live independently.
Note
A restriction in problem-solving, goal-setting, or judgement that markedly restricts adaptive functioning, all or substantially all the time (at least 90% of the time), would qualify.
The most common mental function that may be affected is adaptive functioning (for example, abilities related to self-care, health and safety, abilities to initiate and respond to social interactions, and common, simple transactions) or memory (for example, the ability to remember simple instructions, basic personal information such as name and address, or material of importance and interest). The impairment(s) must exist all or substantially all of the time (at least 90% of the time). When providing details in the Effects of impairment section of Form T2201, it is important to address not only what occurs in an academic environment, but also when the patient is at home or out in the community.
Forms and publications
Related links
- Date modified:
- 2015-12-16