The People Behind the Compass: Finding Experts Who Know What I Don't

Sometimes the Best Resource Is a Person

When I started Accessible Compass, I thought a lot about information.

Where do you find the Disability Tax Credit?

How does an RDSP work?

What benefits are available in your province?

Where do you go when you need help?

But something unexpected has happened while building Accessible Compass.

I've started finding people.

People who have spent years learning one small corner of Canada's disability system and know it incredibly well.

And I've realized that sometimes the best resource isn't another government webpage.

Sometimes it's a person.

My experience with Slinn Tax

I connected with Slinn Tax in the past, and again while working on Accessible Compass.

I already had the Disability Tax Credit, but that didn't mean I understood everything that could come with it.

They reviewed my situation and found DTC-related refunds for me

That experience stuck with me.

Here I am building a website designed to help people navigate disability programs, and I still didn't know everything that was available to me.

And why would I?

Nobody becomes an expert in the Canadian tax system because they suddenly become disabled.

That's why finding people who understand these systems matters.

Slinn Tax has since become a featured partner on Accessible Compass, but my connection with them started with my own experience as someone with a disability trying to understand what I might have been missing.

Then I found Trish Vansickle

More recently, I connected with Trish Vansickle and RDSP Connect.

And once again, I found someone who knows an incredible amount about a very specific part of the disability world: the Registered Disability Savings Plan.

RDSPs can be confusing.

There are grants.

There are bonds.

There are contribution rules.

There are age limits.

There are withdrawal rules.

There are income considerations.

There are years of unused grant and bond entitlements that may potentially matter depending on someone's circumstances.

It's one of those programs where simply knowing that an RDSP exists isn't necessarily enough.

You need to understand how it works.

Talking with someone who has spent time developing that knowledge reminded me of something important:

Accessible Compass doesn't need to have all the answers.

It needs to help people find the answers.

That's becoming part of the Compass

I think that's one of the most exciting things happening as Accessible Compass grows.

I'm discovering organizations, professionals, advocates and people with lived experience who each understand different pieces of the system.

Accessible Compass can help bring those pieces together.

If someone wants to understand the DTC, I want them to be able to find trustworthy places to learn more.

If someone has an RDSP and doesn't understand grants, bonds or their options, I want them to find resources like RDSP Connect.

If someone needs help in Fort McMurray, Edmonton, Toronto or a small community somewhere else in Canada, I want the Compass to help point them somewhere useful.

Not because Accessible Compass has every answer.

Because no single organization or person does.

A compass doesn't have to be the destination

Maybe that's the best way I can explain what I'm trying to build.

A compass doesn't take the journey for you.

It points you in the right direction.

The more people I meet through this project, the more I realize that Accessible Compass can become a place where Canadians with disabilities don't just discover programs.

They discover people who know how to help.

Slinn Tax taught me something I didn't know about my own DTC.

Trish Vansickle showed me just how much knowledge can exist around something as specific as the RDSP.

And I'm sure there are hundreds of other people across Canada with that same depth of knowledge in their own areas.

I want to find them.

I want to learn from them.

And, whenever appropriate, I want Accessible Compass to help Canadians with disabilities find them too.

Because navigating disability in Canada shouldn't require knowing everything yourself.

Sometimes you just need someone to point you in the right direction.

And that's exactly what a compass is supposed to do.

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*Accessible Compass is an independent disability information and navigation resource. Inclusion of a resource does not guarantee eligibility, outcomes or services. Slinn Tax is a featured sponsored partner of Accessible Compass. RDSP Connect is an independent resource listed in the Accessible Compass directory.