Frank is a 32-year-old who has a speech impediment. He has a cleft pallet that causes his speech to be difficult to understand by others. He has partaken in speech therapy to help improve his speech articulation; however, others continue to have difficulty in understanding him. They will miss a word or two from most sentences spoken by Frank, and either ask him to repeat himself, try to lip read, guess, or ask others to clarify. His close friends and family may find it easier to understand him, though that is due to having learned the sounds he makes for familiar words. He asked his family doctor and speech pathologist, to complete a DTC application form for him. His family doctor agreed to try to help and completed an application on his behalf. Unfortunately, the application was denied as the doctor was not familiar with the requirement to provide detailed examples of the patients speech was difficult for others to understand, that they could understand Frank, but had a specific degree of difficulty doing so.
We explained that a person who is either “unable” to speak, or who requires an “inordinate” amount of time for others to understand their speech can qualify, and that inordinate was not well explained in the DTC application forms, though additional information available defines inordinate as “three times” longer than an average person. What this means a person who is able to speak, but others struggle to understand can be approved.
We asked her if in a “normal setting”, not pin-drop quiet, nor overly loud, say in her kitchen at home with others present, with perhaps the T.V. on in the background at normal volume (a common level for people who are not hard of hearing), when talking with others, whether others miss a word or two in most sentences, such that they may attempt to try to lip read, guess words, ask Frank to repeat himself, or ask others what he said, or simply do without knowing the complete conversation? This describes, neither a severe speech restriction, such as others being unable to understand the patient, nor a mild speech impediment, such as being hardly restrictive, but rather a “moderate” speech restriction.
From our assessment, Frank qualified for a full 10 years, we explained this to him and his doctor, and how the DTC Certificate and follow up DTC form mailed directly to his doctor from Canada Revenue Agency, would need to be completed according to Frank’s specific case, and helped with submitting these forms to CRA, and his claim was approved, where she received a lump sum of $21,423.
Another patient Debra, 68-years-old, had a stroke five years earlier, which although did not have lingering restrictive effects in her mobility, caused her to speak with a slur, due to her facial paralysis that resulted from her stroke. Similar to Frank, she sought help in applying, where she was approved and received $10,683 in DTC tax credits/refund.
Common medical conditions that can cause speech impediments and qualify for the DTC:
Speech disorders affect the vocal cords, muscles, nerves, and other structures within the throat.
Apraxia, Dysarthria, Depression, Vocal Chord Damage, Brain Damage, Muscle Weakness, Respiratory Weakness, Strokes, Polyps or Nodules on Vocal Cords, Vocal Cord Paralysis, ADD/ADHD, Strokes, Oral Cancer, Laryngeal Cancer, Huntington’s Disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, and many, many more.
Be sure to take our Free Instant Online DTC Assessment to determine whether you may qualify, for which number of years, and the benefit amount available for your specific case, for past and future years. Remember it absolutely FREE! CLICK HERE FOR YOUR FREE DTC ASSESSMENT.
