This is the Easy Read version of this guide. It says the same things as the full guide. The sentences are short. The words are plain. Read the full guide if you want more detail.
Short answer: yes. You can walk and still qualify for the Disability Tax Credit. The test is not whether you can walk at all. It is how walking works in your real life, and what it costs you.
I hear a version of this sentence almost every week: "But I can walk, so I would not qualify." If you can get from your bed to your kitchen, it is easy to assume the Disability Tax Credit, or DTC, is meant for someone else. This guide explains the real test.
Words on this page
- DTC means Disability Tax Credit. It is a tax credit from the Government of Canada. A tax credit lowers the tax you have to pay.
- CRA means Canada Revenue Agency. It is the part of the government that runs taxes and decides DTC applications.
- RDSP means Registered Disability Savings Plan. It is a savings plan for a person with a disability. The government can add grant and bond money to it.
- Inordinate amount of time means much longer than it should take. As a rough guide, the CRA often looks at whether walking takes about 3 times longer than it would take someone without the impairment.
- Level ground means flat ground, with no hill or slope.
- Marked means the problem is big. It is still big even with medicine, therapy, or other help in place.
- Prolonged means the effects have lasted, or will last, for at least 12 months in a row.
Walking is one of the basic activities the DTC looks at
The Canada Revenue Agency, or CRA, assesses the DTC by looking at basic activities of daily living. Walking is one of them, alongside things like speaking, hearing, and eating. That surprises people, because walking feels so ordinary, until one day we cannot stop thinking about it.
If walking has changed for you, it deserves a proper look, not a quick assumption. Our Easy Read guide on how the DTC works and who it is for gives the full picture. This guide stays on one question: what does the CRA actually mean when it looks at walking?
The real test: markedly restricted, not unable to walk at all
Here is the key idea. To qualify under the walking category, a person generally needs to be markedly restricted in walking. That means, even with appropriate devices and medication, they are unable to walk on level ground, or they take an inordinate amount of time to do it, for all or substantially all of the time. The effect also needs to have lasted, or be expected to last, at least 12 continuous months.
Inordinate amount of time is the phrase that matters most. As a rough guide, the CRA often looks at whether walking takes about 3 times longer than it would take someone without the impairment. If a short, flat walk that most people finish in a few minutes regularly takes you 3 times as long, that is not a small inconvenience. That is your whole day rearranged around one basic activity.
Needing to stop and rest matters too. If you have to pause partway through a short walk to let pain ease or your legs recover, that is part of the honest picture. The CRA assesses your typical experience, not your best 10 minutes on your best day.
Devices do not disqualify you
This is the myth I correct most often. Using a cane, crutches, a walker, braces, or any other appropriate device does not disqualify you from the DTC. The CRA assesses walking with your devices in use.
The question is not what you can manage with no help at all. It is what walking is still like with the supports you rely on.
That distinction matters, because so many people rule themselves out early. They think, "With my walker I can get around the grocery store, so I must be fine." But if that trip still takes an inordinate amount of time, still forces you to stop and rest, and still leaves you spent for the day, your devices have not erased the restriction. They are part of how it gets assessed. Needing help to walk is not a loophole. It is information.
Many different conditions can affect walking
There is no single diagnosis that owns this category. Every person's experience is different, even when two people share a diagnosis on paper.
Walking can be markedly restricted because of a spinal cord injury, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, an amputation, cerebral palsy, and many other conditions besides.
The diagnosis matters, and a qualified medical practitioner needs to certify the effects on the application. But the heart of this category is functional: how long walking takes, how often you must rest, and whether level ground is manageable at all. Your lived experience, described clearly and honestly, is a central part of the process.
Why this matters: the door to the RDSP
So why care so much about a tax credit form? Because DTC approval is the key that opens the Registered Disability Savings Plan, or RDSP. The RDSP can change what the future looks like for a person with a disability and their family. Through federal grants and bonds, an RDSP can receive up to $90,000 in government contributions over a lifetime, on top of what a person and their loved ones put in.
I meet too many families who could have started years earlier, if only someone had told them that "I can walk a little" was never the test. Every year of delay can mean grants and bonds left on the table. Not because money is the whole story. It never is. But because long term security gives people choices, dignity, and breathing room.
None of this is a promise of approval. No one should ever guarantee you an outcome. Every application is individual, the CRA decides, and good information helps you and your medical practitioner describe your situation accurately. This guide is for learning only, not financial advice.
If walking takes you far longer than it takes everyone around you, if rest stops have quietly become part of every short trip, or if level ground still feels like a negotiation even with your devices, please do not count yourself out before you have started. You deserve to understand the real test.
Common questions
I can walk. Can I still qualify for the DTC?
Yes, you may. The test is not whether you can walk at all. It is whether you are markedly restricted in walking, even with devices and medication: unable to walk on level ground, or taking an inordinate amount of time, all or substantially all of the time, for at least 12 continuous months.
How long is an inordinate amount of time?
As a rough guide, the CRA often looks at whether walking takes about 3 times longer than it would take someone without the impairment. Needing to stop and rest partway also counts in the picture.
Does using a walker or cane disqualify me?
No. Devices do not disqualify you. The CRA assesses walking with your devices in use. If walking still takes an inordinate amount of time and forces rest stops, the restriction has not disappeared.
Which conditions can affect walking?
Many can, including a spinal cord injury, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, an amputation, and cerebral palsy. The category is about function: how long walking takes, how often you must rest, and whether level ground is manageable at all.
This guide is part of our Easy Read guide to the RDSP and the Disability Tax Credit, where the whole plan comes together. See all the guides on the Easy Read page.
See where you stand: the free DTC eligibility checker takes about a minute. It shows whether you, or someone you care for, may qualify for the Disability Tax Credit. No signup, and no pressure.
A quick note: this post is for learning, not financial advice. For guidance on your own situation, book a free conversation. You don't have to figure this out alone. I'm here to help you through every step.