u/ParadiseKuna

Bit of a background - I represented 15 different people at hearings before the Social Benefits Tribunal (full background in this post), and eight of them received positive decisions, so I feel confident that these tips are generally effective, even if there is never any guarantee that anyone will get approved, even if you use these pointers.

I will preface this whole post by saying, if you can get the help of a legal aid clinic, please do so. Having a lawyer/paralegal/law student from a legal aid clinic represent you at the Social Benefits Tribunal (SBT) turns the whole hearing into more of a question and answer session with a trusted advisor who tailors the questioning to your specific conditions, rather than just going it alone which can feel intimidating to many people. Not only that, but some legal aid clinics will also help you prepare prior to the SBT Hearing by doing a 'mock hearing', where they ask you the same questions but help to clarify any doubts beforehand - like a practice run. Some clinics will also request medical records from your doctors and sort through them to find relevant ones to submit to the SBT, and they have arrangements with Ontario Works where OW covers the disbursements charged for requesting those records - so if you're having a hard time affording those record requests from your doctors or simply don't have the time/energy to follow-up with them all the time, legal aid clinics can be a god-send.

All that being said, if for any reason you are unable to enlist the help of a legal aid clinic (usually because a) there isn't one nearby or b) they are over capacity), you can still attend the SBT Hearing alone and get a positive decision. The important thing is to focus on the specifics of your disability within the short time given to you (between 1 to 1.5 hours), but if you do that, you have every chance of getting approved.

DISCLAIMER: I have never observed a self-represented hearing, so I cannot say exactly how it goes or what the format is. The advice I am including below is based on the hearings I conducted with clients over many months and the questions that the legal aid clinic I was working for would usually use.

First thing's first, you really want to get a hold of a copy of the Disability Determination Package (DDP) your doctor filled out and submitted to ODSP. I believe ODSP does send this out, but in case you don't have it, ask your caseworker if you can get a copy. Read through it fully and carefully, and note down the info you feel your doctor missed or didn't get right. Also note the reasons the DAU decided you did not qualify, as you can counter those in your hearing.

Ideally, you would want to give some sort of structure to your hearing if your Adjudicator (Adj) lets you speak for an extended amount of time. Before diving into one of these 'sections', try and preface it by saying, "and I just want to mention my [education/work history] etc." as a kind of 'heading' so the Adj knows what you're going to be talking about for the next 5-10 mins.

IMPORTANT: The Adj will want you to focus on how you were at the 'Date of Decision' or DOD. This is the date when you were first rejected by ODSP, and will probably be around 8-10 months prior to your SBT hearing. As silly as it is, you will have to try and remember how you were feeling around that time, not how you are now - and the Adj will constantly remind you of this if you don't. You can also only talk about conditions that your doctor has 'verified', i.e those conditions in the DDP that your doctor said will last for more than 1 year and are either recurrent or episodic (there should be a tick mark/check mark in the relevant boxes).

GENERAL INFO

When you're just discussing general/personal info about yourself, this is the stuff you want to focus on:

• Your age
• Your living conditions generally, i.e
  • what sort of place you live in (apartment, house, basement etc.),
  • do you rent it, how much you pay in rent
  • who else lives with you there
    • If you live with children, mention how much/how little you are able to take care of them because of your condition. If you live with friends/family, mention how much they assist with your daily needs
  • If it has stairs and that's something you find difficult to navigate, mention that
• If you weren't born in Canada and recently moved here, mention it
  • Mention if you had difficulties with the journey over, or, if you've travelled since moving, whether there are any challenges with travel generally

DOCTORS

When discussing your doctors, this is what you want to focus on:

• Who is your family doctor
• How long you've known them for
• How often you see them
• What you see them for usually
• How long your appointments last with them usually
• How do you get to the doctor's office (if travel is a problem)
• What your relationship is like with them/how well do they know you (this is particularly important if you feel they didn't fill out your DDP correctly)
• [IMPORTANT] Mention whether you were physically present with them when they filled out your ODSP application, or if they filled it out alone by themselves, and whether or not they discussed it with you at all prior to filling it out
  • And mention how long that ODSP appointment in particular (if you had one) lasted
• Apart from your family doctor, do you see any other doctors or specialists regularly?
  • For what conditions?

MENTAL HEALTH CONDITION

The sort of stuff you focus on will vary based on the specifics of your condition, but these are the main points usually honed in on when discussing mental health conditions:

• How long have you had it for
• What do you feel like mentally/physically/emotionally when experiencing this
• How often did you experience this around the DOD
  • You want to try and give a concrete number to this if possible, e.g "I felt depressed maybe 6 days out of 7 in a week back in August 2025 (sample DOD), and I would feel depressed for say 16 hours out of 24 on those days (or whenever I'm awake). I would say I felt depressed for 2/3rds-ish of the whole month of August"
• Are some days worse than others
  • Again, you want to try to be specific if possible, e.g "Of the 6 days in the week where I'm depressed, I would say roughly 3 days are really bad (describe how bad it is, i.e can't get out of bed etc.) and it is really bad for probably 16 hours out of 24 on those days. I would say around half the month of August was really bad"
• Are there any particular triggers that you make you feel this way
• Are you ever able to shift/move away from those thoughts internally
• Has the condition gotten better/worse or stayed the same as of DOD compared to previous years

Again, depending on what the condition is you may want to talk about isolation, amotivation, crying, panic attacks, headaches, nausea, nightmares etc. but that will vary.

PHYSICAL HEALTH CONDITION

Again, might be different based on your particular condition, but this is a general overview:

• How long have you had it for
• What parts of the body are affected and how are they affected (i.e symptoms)
• What does it feel like (i.e is it a searing pain? A burning pain? Stinging, sharp, radiating etc.?)
  • Any other effects apart from pain (i.e numbness, weakness, cold/hot sensation, prickling, tingling etc.)
• On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is very low pain and 10 is extreme pain, how bad is the pain usually
• How often did you experience this level of pain around the DOD
  • Again, the more concrete the better, e.g, "I felt a level 7/10 pain for around 5 out of 7 days in a week back in July 2025, and I would feel that way for approx. 12 hours on those 5 days (i.e in between taking medication). I felt that level of pain for roughly 3/4ths of the whole month"
• Are some days worse than others
  • Same as above, except focusing specifically on the bad days/flare-ups, e.g "For 2 out of 7 days a week back in July 2025, I would feel a 9/10 pain, and this would last for 15 hours on those 2 days (when I wasn't sleeping)."
• Are there any particular triggers that start the pain
• Does it affect your sleep? How? How many hours of sleep did you get in a night usually
• Has the condition gotten better/worse or stayed the same as of DOD compared to previous years

MEDICATION

You may want to keep your bottles/vials with you for reference if and when this comes up

• Names of all medication you are taking for a specific condition
• How often do you take each one in a day
• What the dosage is of each one
• How long have you been taking each one
• How much does it help/how effective is it?
  • For this one, you want to try and be specific, i.e "if my pain is at a level 8/10, it goes down to a 6/10 when I take the medication and this lasts for 6 hours"
  • If it's a mental health condition - "If I am feeling anxious, the medication makes me calm for 2-3 hours."
• Has the dosage increased over time?
• Any side effects
• Have you taken any different medication in the past, and if so why you stopped

These are optional but you can mention them if you feel like it helps your case

• Has your doctor recommended different medication that you refused? Why did you refuse?
• Have you asked your doctor for different/stronger medication? Why not?
• Have you researched any different medication yourself?

TREATMENTS OTHER THAN MEDICATION

If you get the chance you should also discuss any treatments other medication you've received, like surgery, physiotherapy, injections, CBT therapy, counselling (group or individual) etc.

• Talk about what the treatment was
• How long you have been taking that treatment or when you stopped (how many appointments, how long was each appointment etc.)
  • If you stopped, why
• How effective was the treatment
  • Here again you want to be concrete if possible, i.e "after the physiotherapy session, my pain would go down to a 6/10, but that would only last for a few hours."
• Similar to the above, if you've discussed treatment options with your doctor, mention them
  • Have you asked your doctor about treatments other than medication - why not if not
  • Has your doctor said why you cannot do [x] treatment (maybe long waiting times, not appropriate for your condition, lack of coverage etc.)
  • If you've researched any treatments, mention that
• Do you do anything at home to help with the condition
  • This could include home remedies (herbal teas, diet plans, exercises, meditation, hot showers, warm towels, steam, ice baths, even just watching videos to distract yourself etc.), or over the counter medications (gels, ointments, hot and cold packs etc.). If you do use alcohol or recreational drugs (like marijuana) to help with the pain, you can mention that as well.
• Mention any hospital or emergency room visits related to your conditions

ADLs/IEWS

This is where you really want to read your DDP, specifically the Activities of Daily Living Index (ADLI) and/or the Intellectual and Emotional Wellness Scale (this is more relevant for people who have mental health conditions OR whose mental health is affected by their physical conditions). Go through the list of activities and/or mental health indicators and talk about your difficulties with each one. Try and focus on the ones where your doctor indicated a 2 or 3 rating.

If you think your doctor did not indicate how much difficulty you have with a particular activity (as in they indicated a 0 or 1 but you think it should be a 2 or 3) and you have possible explanation for why that is, mention it (e.g. "my doctor hasn't known me for very long" or "they didn't discuss these things with me" etc.) If you don't have an explanation that's ok, you can just say "I don't know/I don't remember", but if you think there is a legitimate reason why your doctor said something different, mention it.

EDUCATION HISTORY

• Mention your highest level of completed education
  • If there was a specific reason why you stopped before completing a particular diploma or degree (even high school or lower), mention it
  • If you succesfully completed a diploma or degree but your condition caused substantial difficulty while you were completing it, mention that
• If you have tried to pursue further education but have been unable to because of your conditions, mention that
• If you are someone who does not speak English fluently or at all, mention if you have completed any English Second Language (ESL) courses after arriving in Canada, and if you stopped, why
  • If you can rate your general ability in reading, writing and speaking English, do so (e.g. 1/10 in writing, 2/10 in reading, 3/10 in speaking)

WORK HISTORY

• Mention how long you have been on OW
• Talk about your past work history if you have any, including what you worked as, where (even if it is another country), for how long, and what the general tasks or role was (this can include volunteering)
  • Mention why you stopped working
• Say if you have been looking for work since you stopped, or if not, why that is
• Mention if you think there is any kind of work you think you could've done around the DOD, and if not, why not
  • Mention if think you would have been able to do any kind of desk job/work-from home job on a computer, or if not, why not
• Definitely mention if you would like to go back to work or pursue further education if your condition improved (even if there is no chance that your condition will ever improve, just imagine an ideal scenario where it did)

Ideally you would not want to discuss any of these topics for more than 5-10 minutes, and you want to give the most attention to your disabilities. Fitting in all this information in less than an hour can be difficult, so don't beat yourself up if you miss stuff - just try and fit in as much as possible. Again, I don't know exactly how a self-represented hearing is formatted, but these topics are based on the hearings I conducted, in which I would go through these questions with the clients one by one (this is another advantage of getting legal aid help - a clear format and less time for the Case Presenting Officer [CPO - the ODSP person who may sometimes attend your hearing - they are different from the Adj] to ask questions).

Again, read through your DDP, and if there are any inconsistencies between what you are going to say and what your doctor said, be prepared to have those pointed out by the CPO. If you don't have a good explanation for why your doctor said something different to you, you can always say 'I don't know', it's not the end of the world, but definitely don't lie or make something up. Likewise, if you don't remember something from back around the DOD, you can always say "I don't remember", but don't invent something just to fill in the blanks - be honest.

Also, try not to read off a screen or sheet of paper during the hearing as that may affect your credibility. You can write down answers to these questions prior to the hearing just to clarify your own thoughts beforehand, but during the hearing just try and go with the flow. Again, it's fine if you miss some stuff, so long as you're generally going through some of these points you're always giving yourself a better chance.

COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS

• If I slip-up/go on a (short) tangent/fumble my words etc. I will definitely lose

From my experience, totally untrue. The adjudicators are usually not there to grill you or interrogate you. They might simply remain silent, or they might actively try and help you get back on topic or just clarify what you said gently. That being said, try as best as you can to stay on topic and be specific, because more irrelevant info = more time wasted, and their time limits are pretty strict. You don't have to be perfect, just particular.

• If I cry during the hearing, that looks really bad to the adjudicator

Again from my experience, this is totally untrue. Many adjudicators simply wait for you to compose yourself, and some others will actively empathise with you and help you to return to topic. Obviously you want to try and hold it together so you can get all the important information out, but if you ever feel like it's too much or you need to take a minute just to let it out, that does not destroy your chances at all. You can also ask for a 5 minute break if you need to go to the bathroom etc. and the Adj will almost always oblige.

• I have to exaggerate/flourish to win

Cliche but honesty really is the best policy. Trying to spice things up opens yourself up to further questioning, and there's nothing worse than your story unravelling because of an inconsistency. This doesn't mean you have to be completely unemotional, but don't feel the need to flourish things just to make it stick - stick to the truth.

Bit of a background - I represented fifteen people in hearings before the Social Benefits Tribunal (SBT), and prior to that I read through the Disability Adjudication Unit's (DAU) reasons for rejecting their original applications. I thought it would be useful to list them out here for reference, and to show that the DAU will look for almost any excuse to reject your application.

The purpose of this is not to discourage people from applying. On the contrary, of the 23 people I helped with this process, 8 of them were approved after their SBT hearing, 2 never showed up to their hearing, 4 were denied after their SBT hearing, and 2 had their hearings postponed. 4 of them were initially rejected by the DAU, but that decision was reversed after additional medical evidence was submitted (meaning no SBT hearing was necessary). I do not know the outcome of the remaining 3 hearings.

In essence, you basically have a 50/50 chance of being approved at the SBT stage (8 out of 15 - this is of course dependent on the specifics of your particular application and just from my experience, not a guaranteed percentage), and most of the SBT adjudicators I dealt with seemed very fair and impartial - they definitely are NOT just clones of the DAU. What sucks is you're basically forced to wait for at least a year (could be 18 months if your hearing is postponed, which is happening more often in the last few months) to get to that stage, prior to which you have to bear witness to the DAU's 'decision-making' process. The reason I am posting this is two-fold:

1. So people don't get disheartened by the DAU's comments (which I have experienced first-hand from clients), try and persist in the process and contact a legal aid clinic if you can.
2. So well-meaning people out there who want to help disabled people but mistakenly hold the belief that the ODSP process is speedy, fair, impartial and unbiased can have their assumptions corrected.

I myself have never had to apply for ODSP and I hope I never have to. I just wanted to do this on behalf of the people I helped, in the hopes that it can help others too.

Note: The 'translation' bullet point is what I think the DAU really means when they use these 'reasons', but as you will infer from the tone, I do not support their point of view.

There is no identifying information here, this is collected from several different DAU Adjudication Summaries and completely anonymized.

• "Recent assessments detailing treatment history was not provided for review"
  • Translation: if you're reports are older than a year, they're not recent enough, so you must be fine by now and you're treatments must be working
• "The applicant only recently started treatment, and the effectiveness of the treatment remains unknown"
  • Translation: If you started your treatment within the last ~six-ish months, we're going to assume its working fine or we're going to make you wait until we think enough time has passed to conclude its not. Doesn't matter if you say it's not working in the self-report.
• "No current indication the treatment is effective/no reported failed medication trials/no indication symptoms are refractory to treatment"
  • Translation: Unless one of you're doctors, and more likely a specialist, specifically mentions somewhere that your medication is ineffective, we're going to assume its effective - even if your dosage has been increasing or constantly changing over time.
• "No reported mental health crises, emergency visits/hospitalizations or related admissions for unmanageable symptoms"
  • Translation: This, imo, is one of the most repulsive excuses the DAU uses. Essentially, unless you're at the point of suicide or your mental health crisis/physical health is so extreme that you need hospitalization, 'it can't be that bad'.
• "A recent comprehensive physical and functional assessment detailing the applicant's current medical and physical capacity was not provided"
  • Translation: Whatever your family doctor says is irrelevant, unless you get a specialist to write a detailed note describing your disability in minute detail (regardless of cost or waiting time), you must be fine.
• "There is no indication that the applicant requires assistance from a community based agency"
  • No matter how much help you get from family and friends (or if you're unfortunate enough to have no help at all), unless you rely on these specific (yet never mentioned) "community agencies", you must be fine.
• "Urgent and aggressive interventions are not indicated"
  • Translation: Chronic pain causing you hell on a regular basis? No dice. Unless you're in need of immediate and significant treatment, like full-blown chemotherapy or something - you must be fine.
• "Applicant has had mild improvement with medication"
  • Translation: Let's say your pain is at a 9/10, or you feel depressed 6 out of 7 days in a week. Medication brought you down to 8/10, or 5 out of 7 days? Must be fine.
• "Pain is a subjective entity"
  • Translation: When they throw this one at you, you know they're getting desperate. Are you in constant agony for most of your daily life? Well, pain is subjective after all, everyone feels it differently - so you must be either lying or simply dumb - this can't be that bad.
  • (Note, the DAU doesn't seem to grasp the concept that, while pain is subjective in the sense that each person may feel a particular stimulus differently, it is objective in the fact that it is the response of the receptors in your body in tandem with your nervous system - what may be tolerable for one person may be unbearable for another, but the way the DAU depicts it is like a preferring pineapple on pizza - a taste thing that is a matter of personal choice. The DAU's position seems to be "well every person feels pain differently, so we can't use it in determining disability" - which is not what the ODSP Act says. It is supposed to weigh pain in addition to other relevant factors, which it is happy to ignore when it suits them. To put it another way - allergies are "subjective", not everyone almost dies when exposed to peanuts or pollen, but the person who does is not faking it or 'expressing their subjective preference')
• "Surgery (or some other significant treatment) was not indicated"
  • Translation: Even if you indicate you are terrified of surgery in your self-report, even if your surgeon says there's a 50% chance you might lose mobility, even if it takes years to get on a waiting list, even if your family doctor says surgery would be pointless - if there's no surgery, you must be fine.
• (For sleep difficulties specifically) "No sleep study was indicated"
  • Translation: Self-explanatory, but as rare as these things are, if you haven't got one - must be fine.
• "Issues of malingering/secondary gain were not mentioned"
  • Translation: This is one of the most cryptic insinuations they will sneak in there, but in essence means "you're lying, you're lazy, and you're just trying to avoid going to work when you're perfectly capable of doing so" (you can Google malingering/secondary gain to confirm). I have seen ODSP counsel outright say that an applicant's disability was just a "lifestyle" preference, or if, heaven forbid, your doctor forgot to write something on your original application but amended later - they will say that this was an "afterthought that appeared to be prompted by the applicant/applicant's lawyer" - in essence, you made your doctor lie just to get ODSP money.
• "No assistive devices used"
  • Translation: If you can't afford a wheelchair, walker etc. or this is simply inappropriate or useless for your particular disability - must be fine.
• (For driving related disabilities) "There is no indication that the appplicant's driver's license was revoked or suspended"
  • Translation: If you don't deliberately, recklessly and dangerously drive on the roads with a disability in order to get your license suspended, OR you don't voluntarily hand in your license because you hope at some point in the future to be able to drive again - you must be fine.
• "No information to suggest applicant is substantially restricted from re-entering the workforce with some re-training"
  • Translation: All you need is a bit of re-training (of course, the length of time this training may take and the tiny niche of jobs that may be open to you even after training are irrelevant to us, nor will we provide this magically tailored training program in the first place).
• "Attempts at re-entry into the workforce have not been documented"
  • If you gave up on applying to jobs because you know you have a less than zero chance of getting any - you must be fine. (Note: if you are trying to find jobs nonetheless, be sure to save screenshots or pdfs of your applications).
• "Vocational assessment was not conducted"
  • If you don't get a doctor to specifically say you are unable to do ANY job (regardless of how limited the jobs you can do are), you must be fine.
• "Not all treatment options have been exhausted"
  • Translation: This is also one of their hail mary's if nothing else works. You haven't tried every possible medication (even if they are only distinguished by brand name), every possible treatment (whether or not your family doctor is willing to refer you and waiting times are irrelevant), and enrolled in every possible expeirmental randomized controlled trial there is for this condition? Must be fine.

All this to emphasize once again that DAU will look for literally any excuse to deny you on the first go, to the point where they might even contradict themselves or accuse you/your doctor of lying (in a vague enough way that covers their ass of course). Nonetheless, if you are able to, try and get your SBT hearing - you still have a good chance at that stage. Other tips:

• Ask your family doctor if they can refer you to a specialist for your condition - any specialist - and try and get a specific report from them. It doesn't matter if you do so after submitting your ODSP application, as long as you get the report around ~40 days before your SBT hearing you still have time to submit it.
• If you haven't applied yet but are thinking about: I highly recommend looking at a sample Disability Determination Package (DDP, they are on Google). Look at the ADL and IEWS section in particular, and if possible either talk to your doctor about that list before they fill it out or write out a table listing your difficulties with each activitiy and give it to your doctor for reference.

I would love to help anyone who is considering going self-represented at an SBT hearing with the kind of information they would like to hear, but this post is long enough as it is, so feel free to DM me if you want that info.

All the best to anyone who goes through this process, they make it hell for those who really need it just to isolate the few who don't, and it's disgraceful that it is made that way - but I wish you all the strength needed to get through it, god bless.