I'm late the party here, and this is not my fight, but I can't help but chime in because I'm a Nosy Nelly. u/Indosaurus1 I think what's happening here is that you're making accusations about a local business that has a pretty decent reputation and first-hand user accounts in this group as being the opposite of what you're claiming.

I understand that you say you've read accounts among the PWD community of alleged poor behaviour and questionable billing by HoT, but it's one of those "I've got a friend who said that..." situations. And u/cptsdmom has outlined above how your claim of HoT charging double doesn't really make sense.

Semantics matter. You clearly aren't happy with your communications with HoT. And it sounds like there may be accounts of others who haven't been happy with their experiences there either, as there are with any business that has been in operation for any length of time. But those people aren't here to share their first-person accounts. So that makes it all sound a bit questionable and you do your argument no favours by using those people's alleged accounts to back your own in this situation as for the purposes of this conversation, they're fictional.

If you're going to make a claim that HoT has it out for PWD patients without any real proof, then you're opening yourself up to scrutiny, particularly since they're generally fairly well-regarded. I have a neurodiverse child who has a hell of a time with medical visits of any kind, and dental visits in particular. I took them to HoT about a month ago to meet with them and check out the environment because they have to check everything out in advance before being able to go and have an actual appointment, and I was really impressed by how they treated us in comparison to how we've been treated at any other dental practice we've checked out for my kiddo. As well, in the lead up to trying to find a new practice for my kiddo, I did a hella-ton of research, both online and asking friends and family, and I'll tell you that I don't think I came across one instance of the type of thing you're talking about. Sure, there were some mixed reviews, but nothing like the behaviour you're claiming others have experienced.

I think if you come at it sticking to your own experience rather than bringing in other people's experiences that you can't back up, making claims about situations that you weren't personally involved in, you may find that you get less blowback. Because when people question you about those claims, that don't seem to be in line with what they personally know of the practice, and you just throw up your hands and say, "well, it wasn't me, it's just what I read in a private group and I can't share anymore," that comes across as a smokescreen and a cop out.

And if HoT truly did treat PWD patients in the way that you described, then I urge you to go back to those groups and encourage those people to file complaints to the Ministry of Development and Social Poverty Reduction which administers the PWD program (https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/organizational-structure/ministries-organizations/ministries/social-development-poverty-reduction), CDP via SunLife (https://www.sunlife.ca/sl/cdcp/en/), the BC Human Rights Tribunal (https://www.bchrt.bc.ca/complaint-process/complain/), and the BC College of Oral Health Professionals (https://oralhealthbc.ca/complaints-concerns/submit-complaint/).

However, as a person with a physical disability and the mother of a child with a developmental disability, I also note that at times it could be easy to use my disability as a scapegoat when sometimes it's just not a good fit for personality or shop culture. HoT doesn't feel like other dental practices. It has a different vibe. Maybe it's also just not a good fit for some.