Call our toll-free number or email us, and we will connect you to an expert advisor with lived experience of disability.
1-844-311-7526
How does the helpline work?
Call the toll-free helpline at 1-844-311-7526 anytime from anywhere in Canada, leave a message, and one of our disability expert advisors will get back to you within 4 to 8 business days. Or, if you prefer email, you can contact us at [email protected]. You can also contact our helpline by filling out the form below.
After receiving support, you can opt in to have us follow up on your request in six months. The follow-up is an opportunity for you to ask about any further support you might need and to provide your feedback through our survey. Completing the helpline six month follow-up survey gives Plan Institute the tools we need to continue providing you with free 1:1 support.
Using our Disability Planning Helpline is completely free of charge.
How long does it take to receive a response?
You will receive a response from our team, assigning you to an advisor within 1-2 business days. The helpline advisor will then respond to your query as soon as possible, usually within 4-8 business days. Some of our advisors work evenings and weekends and may call or email you then. Your callback may also come in from a private number for accessibility purposes.
The disability planning helpline is not a crisis line. If you are in crisis, you can find contacts for emergency support by clicking here.
What information should I provide?
Fill out the form below to ensure you submit all the information we need from you. When you leave a message or send us an email, let us know your name and contact details, specify your preferred method of communication (email or phone), the province you are reaching out from, and the questions or topics you would like to discuss. This will help us connect you with the helpline advisor who is best suited to support you.
Please also tell us how you’d like to be contacted and when, and whether you have any accessibility or interpretation needs. All correspondence within the Disability Planning Helpline will remain private and confidential.
Who is the helpline for?
The helpline is for anyone who has a question related to disability! While most of the folks we support are disabled people or their family members, we also receive calls from friends and community members, as well as professionals such as social workers, doctors and financial planners.
Who will call me back?
We will connect you with an advisor who is an expert on your questions or another experienced team member who will be able to provide you with the best support for your situation.
Our advisors are based across Canada and come from all walks of life. They all have lived experience of disability, deep connections to community, and extensive knowledge of the topic they advise on. Some are financial advisors or personal coaches, and they are all friendly, caring and compassionate.You can find out more about them here.
If your question is best suited to one of our Access RDSP partners, we will connect you with them. This includes BC Aboriginal Network on Disability Society (BCANDS), and Disability Alliance BC (DABC).
What questions can the advisors answer?
No matter what your question is, we encourage you to reach out! We offer a range of support, from providing basic information to troubleshooting complex situations.
If we can’t answer your question immediately, we will do our best to find the information you need or connect you with a partner organization who is better placed to support you.
Topics include but are not limited to:
- Trusts and estate planning,
- Advocacy approaches,
- Government benefit programs,
- Social network building,
- and more disability-related questions
What can the advisors not help with?
While our helpline advisors are trained to support on many disability planning concerns, there are some Our roster of helpline advisors do not include medical professionals. We are unable to provide medical advice,
What will the support look like?
Wherever possible, we try to be flexible and communicate with people in the way that works best for them. We can provide information by phone, email or video call, and we can also print and mail resources to you. If there is a specific time or mode of communication that works for you, just let us know!
Six months after receiving the support, we will contact you to ask if you’d like further guidance from our advisor.
We can also provide interpreted support in ASL and other languages. This year we have supported people in languages including Arabic, Farsi, Mandarin, Korean, and Spanish.
What does the six-month follow-up include?
We will contact you six months after your meeting with our advisor to check if you need further support. You will receive this message along with a survey that we use to report to our funders. Our advisors can continue to support you with your questions or help address your other concerns. If you have the time, filling out the survey will help us continue to provide this free service.
Our Disability Planning Helpline has a 99% satisfaction rate.
Contact us to have a conversation that makes you feel heard, helped, and empowered.
Read these testimonies from the people we’ve supported:
“Cannot recommend enough! Going into this I had no idea how to go about applying for the disability tax credit. Thanks to the Helpline service it ended up being a stress free process with people who know how to fill these forms out in a way that helps their clients get approved.”
“Within a few days of reaching out to the Disability Planning Helpline, I finally had the specific information I needed, presented in a clear manner. This is really a fantastic resource for those of us with disabilities who are trying to navigate various programs and services. Thank you!”
“My 75-minute session with the Helpline service was invaluable. I learned a lot of things that I hadn’t learned in months of previous research and $7,500 paid to a lawyer trying to help me figure out a will that could ensure my son’s financial future is protected when I die. It totally opened some doors for me.”
Give us your feedback!
If you would like to provide anonymous feedback on the service, you have received through our helpline you can do so by completing our survey.
The goal of this survey is to better assess the quality of our service and to look into other areas of advocacy, program development and improvement, and the equitability of our support. The survey also provides valuable information that helps us qualify for grant funding and allows us to continue to provide these services for free.
Click here to complete our helpline survey
PLEASE NOTE
The information provided by our advisors is for informational purposes only and is not legal, tax, investment, financial, medical or other professional advice, and should not be construed as a recommendation for any particular course of action. Plan Institute is providing the information “as is” and is not responsible or liable for any inaccuracies, errors or omissions in the information, or for the information being incomplete or out of date. You use the information and make decisions and take actions in reliance on the information solely at your own risk, and Plan Institute will not be liable for your use or reliance on any information it provides. You should consult with qualified professional advisors before making any legal, financial, medical or health care decisions.