Accessing Adult Services: Lay of the Land

The world of services for adults with developmental disabilities can be quite confusing. It can feel like things aren't very streamlined and everything has an acronym! It can be hard to keep supports straight. In our first blog post, we'll take an overhead look at the various types of services and supports available to you.

To start, when discussing services and supports available there is the world of government-funded supports and the world of non-government-funded supports. We'll be focusing on government-funded supports today.

Government-funded supports are often broken down based on who they serve - i.e. people with disabilities, people experiencing homelessness, families with a certain income level, etc. It's important to understand which of these communities served you fall under. The odds are that you may fall under more than one! Similarly, some supports cater to various communities!

There are supports for general people with disabilities however there are also supports for people with developmental disabilities. If you've found yourself on our page today, odds are you fall under both.

Supports for adults with disabilities include ODSP (Ontario Disability Support Program), the Assistive Devices Program (ADP), and more.

Supports for adults with developmental disabilities include Passport funding, the housing registry, respite funding, and more.

The government has streamlined support for adults with developmental disabilities to have one major access point - the DSO (Developmental Services Ontario)! Individuals can apply here and complete a variety of assessments to see which government-funded supports they qualify for that fall under supports for adults with developmental disabilities! Keep in mind, this is only for those with developmental disabilities, there are still separate applications, eligibility criteria, and timelines for other supports.

Our first set of blog posts will dive into the DSO, how to apply, and the various programs they offer. Once we've explored the world of developmental disability services, we'll broaden our horizons to general disability supports so you can build out a full suite of supports around you!

If there are any specific services you are interested in, please consider sharing them with us via the form on our Contact Us page - we'd love to hear from you!

Thanks for reading!

Until next time,

The Flourish Team