Passport funding for autistic adults in Ontario

Personal support workers — hourly support for community participation, skill-building, and daily tasks outside the home.

Day programs, recreation, and community activities — structured programming through approved service providers.

Respite for caregivers — funded breaks for family caregivers, including overnight respite.

Skill development programs — life skills, money management, community navigation delivered by approved providers.

Employment-related supports — transportation to work, job coaching (may overlap with ODSP Employment Supports).

Housing (rent, mortgage, utilities); food, clothing, basic household items.

Medical equipment or prescriptions (covered under OHIP/ADP); income replacement.

Core clinical therapy (ABA, SLP, OT, psychology) — those are OAP categories.

Self-directed: family or individual manages the budget directly, hires support workers independently. Maximum flexibility. Requires administrative capacity for payroll, receipts, and reporting.

Agency-managed: a designated service agency manages funds on your behalf — handles hiring, payroll, and government reporting. Less administrative burden, less flexibility.

Many families start with agency-managed and transition to self-directed as their capacity grows.

There are currently 71,263 children on the OAP waitlist — 77.5% of all registered children — without funded clinical therapy. When those children become adults, many will require more intensive Passport support because early intervention was never provided.

Many families use a combination of Passport and federal supports. Useful federal programs that stack with Passport: Disability Tax Credit (~$3,000/yr credit), RDSP (up to $90,000 in lifetime federal grants), Canada Disability Benefit (rolling out 2025–2026), Canada Caregiver Credit.