SBA's YAA Blog

Canadian Disability Statistics

Our Canadian friends to the North have had a rough time the last fifteen years since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in the U.S.  Politicians were able to ignore the pleas of accessibility by Canadians with disabilities in part because there were no comprehensive statistics on the numbers and needs of people with disabilities in Canada. 

Thanks to a recent study, politicians in Canada will no longer be able to ignore the disability community.  Results from the study show that:

• One in eight Canadians has a disability, for a total of 3.6 million people.
• Among the aboriginal population, the rate of disability is more than one and a half times the rate for the non-aboriginal population.
• Women are more likely than men to have a disability, regardless of age.
• Three-quarters of Canadians without disabilities know someone with a disability, most often a family member or friend. And some 2.8 million Canadians provide support to a family member or friend with a long-term health condition or disability.
• The general public most often thinks of disability as a physical condition. Mental disabilities tend to create uncertainty and discomfort, resulting in a stigma more powerful than the one attached to physical disabilities.
• More than 80 per cent of Canadians believe there has been some progress in including people with disabilities in Canadian society over the past decade. Yet only one in 10 believes these individuals are fully included today.
• Almost half of Canadians point to prejudice as the most significant barrier to inclusion, a view shared by people with and without disabilities.
• Canadians feel that people with disabilities should have the opportunity to participate in life to their fullest potential. Most feel that while the solutions to achieving this might be expensive, they are necessary and worth it in terms of the benefit to society.
• More than 2 million adults with disabilities need assistive aids and devices. Only two-thirds of those have all their needs met.
• Only half the children with disabilities have all the assistive aids and devices they need.
• Among working-age adults with disabilities (aged 15 to 64), more than a third never completed high school, compared to a quarter of those without disabilities.
• In 2002, employment rates were only 53 per cent for people with disabilities compared to 76 per cent for people without.
• Aboriginal adults with disabilities are almost twice as likely to be out of the workforce as aboriginal adults without disabilities.
• Disability affects the employment of family caregivers. More than half of the parents of children with disabilities report that their child's condition has affected the family's employment situation.
• Disability organizations face significant hurdles in obtaining the type of paid staff they need.
• The ongoing struggle to get financial resources demands a large commitment from disability organizations and sometimes limits their ability to meet their mandate.

With such knowledge comes power.  Good luck to our Canadian friends!  Accessibility is a human right that can not be denied.