TheReachPrimer onDisability & Literacy

TheReachPrimer onDisability & Literacy

Our Perspective On:

Definitions Statistics

Benchmarks People first

Access Issues Technology

Community Issues Literacy Link

Consider This...

The World Health Organization defines disability as

“ …any restriction or lack of ability to perform an activity in the manner — or within the range — considered normal for a human being.”

DisabilityDisability

Definitions

It often results from an impairment.

An impairment is a loss or abnormality of psychological or anatomical structure or function.

ImpairmentImpairment

Definitions

It usually results from an illness, disease or accident.

A disadvantage for an individual resulting from an impairment or disability that limits or prevents the fulfillment of a role that is normal.

HandicapHandicap

Definitions

It usually results from conditions in the environment —

not in the individual

Definitions

So...So...

Disability? Can’t walk

Impairment? Broken leg

Handicap? Stairs

Rick’s Tour - made the public more aware of the capabilities of people with disabilities.

Rick Hansen’s “Man In Motion” World TourRick Hansen’s “Man In Motion” World Tour

Definitions

depending on their type of disability.

People with disabilities have their own strengths and weaknesses…

Types Of DisabilityTypes Of Disability

Psychiatric disabilities: include such conditions as schizophrenia, anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder (manic depression) or personality disorder.

Definitions

Physical disabilities: can take the form of limitations in mobility or agility.

Learning disabilities: characterized by frequent and persistent problems with processing information e.g. attention, memory, reasoning, listening, reading, writing, mathematics, or organizational and social skills.

Developmental disabilities: relate to Canadians who simply learn slowly. 250,000 are of working age. It is a mistake to call this disability “mental retardation.”

Types of DisabilitiesTypes of Disabilities

Definitions

Hearing disabilities: relate to impairments affecting people who are hard of hearing and use hearing aids, and those who are deaf and rely on lip reading, sign language or interpreters.

Visual disabilities: relate to varying degrees of impairment. Low vision, a visual disability less severe than blindness, is one which cannot be fully compensated for by corrective lenses.

According to the Health and Activity Limitations Survey (HALS) Report of 1991:

Hard FactsHard Facts

Approximately 16% or 4.2 million Canadians of all ages have a disability.

About 7% of children under 15 have a disability, 13% of working age adults and 46% of Canadians over 65 also have a disability.

In Canada, 65% of adults with disabilities earn less than $10,000.00 per year.

Statistics

Benchmarks

Canada as a LeaderCanada as a Leader

Since the United Nations’ International Year of Disabled Persons in 1981, Canadians have had many successes helping people with disabilities find practical expression in economic and social terms throughout Canada. Despite these achievements difficult challenges remain.

Canada’s Obstacles Report1981

Canada’s Obstacles Report1981

Obstacles was developed by a Special Committee of Parliament. It was based on widespread consultation across the country. Obstacles contained 130 recommendations which involved every aspect of daily living. It is still a major reference document for anyone involved in disability.

Benchmarks

Specifically prohibits discrimination on the basis of a mental or physical disability.

In order to deal with disability issues, the Canadian Parliament passed an Omnibus bill in 1992 effectively amending several major existing laws and their regulations, including the Elections Act, the Human Rights Act, the Employment Equity Act, and the National Transportation Act.

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

(Section 15)

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

(Section 15)

Benchmarks

The Decade of Disabled Persons was unanimously declared by the United Nations.

Canadians with disabilities played a lead role at the United Nations, especially in the development of global “standard rules on the equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities.”

Achievements

1983 - 921983 - 92

The House of Commons - established a very active Standing Committee on Human Rights and the Status of Disabled Persons.

Premier’s Councils - were established across Canada. Each province set up their own organization for disability issues to advise their premier and legislative body on contemporary disability issues and strategies.

Government Leadership

Achievements

The Terry Fox Run For Cancer Research - made the public much more aware that disabilities can be acquired. Since then, prevention and research into causes of disabilities have become more focused and better supported.

The Terry Fox RunFor Cancer ResearchThe Terry Fox RunFor Cancer Research

Achievements

It was developed in communities across the country to provide graphic examples to municipal leaders and the general public about the barriers encountered by citizens with disabilities.

National Access Awareness WeekNational Access Awareness Week

Achievements

From its outset in 1983, it focused on issues of physical access and ultimately expanded to address all sorts of disability questions in over 1,000 communities.

Independence ‘92Independence ‘92

Canada played host to approximately 4000 people with disabilities from 140 countries, at one of the world’s most accessible cities - Vancouver, BC.

Many accessibility initiatives in the city were funded privately.

Achievements

United Nations’ Special Rapporteur was nominated by Canada.

19921992

Achievements

The Rapporteur assesses world progress on disability, region by region and country by country. This official is an advocate for the Standard Rules and helps to keep disability on the international agenda.

19961996Hon. Andy Scott - led a Parliamentary Task Force whose report (Equal Citizenship for Canadians with Disabilities: The Will To Act) examined the challenges of the next millennium, and set out a framework for action.

Achievements

Franklin Delano Roosevelt International Award on Disability

Franklin Delano Roosevelt International Award on Disability

Nominated by Reach, the only NGO to take such action, the award was won by Canada. It acknowledges Canada as a world leader in addressing disability issues and generates an expectation for continued leadership

Achievements

Canada’s SnowbirdsCanada’s Snowbirds

Achievements

Reach builds partnerships with Canadian leaders concerned about literacy and disability.

Canada’s Snowbirds are reliable ambassadors for Reach

Challenges AheadChallenges Ahead

The most difficult hurdles in the disability field involve all Canadians in the areas of:

Community Issues

Income

Accessibility

Attitudes

Employment

The reasons for the high rate of under employment and unemployment among people with disabilities can be found in a physically inaccessible work place, reluctant and ill informed co-workers who create an uninviting work environment, rigid recruitment and interviewing policies, and a highly competitive work force.

Employment IssuesEmployment Issues

Community Issues

Attitudes Attitudes

Some people with disabilities can never be employed. Their physical, mental or emotional condition excludes them from employment and the dignity and self-esteem that comes from “earning your way through life.”

Community Issues

Some people see those with disabilities as having no value to society.

The problem is an attitudinal one.

LABEL JARS...

Community Issues

Self EsteemSelf EsteemIn many regions of Canada, assistance to people with disabilities is based on a concept of unemployability.

Community Issues

Ultimately, this destroys self-esteem and also leaves the individual ineligible for employment training, rehabilitation or job retraining.

Community Issues

I’ve got it too Omar. That strange feeling that we’ve just been going in circles.

Why don’t we integrate our workforce?

Income SourcesIncome Sources

Most disability income that is not generated through employment is provided by various governmental programs, each with a different structure and requirement.

Community Issues

$

$ $

$$

Eligibility is not necessarily based on need but often based on how the disability is acquired, be it work related or non-work related.

Community Issues

Workers Compensation, Canada and Quebec Pension Plans are available to people who have contributed to these plans. However, 65% of people with disabilities who are employed earn less than $10,000.00 per year, and their ability to claim for subsequent injury is minimal.

A ParadoxA Paradox

Community Issues

Since many people with disabilities have never worked, they have never contributed, and they are usually ineligible for training from these programs.

The Hidden DilemmaThe Hidden Dilemma

Welfare, Social Assistance, Family Allowance, and Child Tax Credits. Seldom is this enough to live on. The current work fare debate just complicates the issue when payments are intentionally kept low in order to encourage recipients to “make something of themselves.”

Community Issues

For people with disabilities this situation is a lose-lose proposition.

Hopeless?Hopeless?

In the final analysis, poverty itself, is a hazard for people who already have to deal with social issues associated with a disability.

Community Issues

Retrofitting buildings to accommodate the needs of people with disabilities can be very expensive, but modifications in building standards can reduce the cost substantially if city by-laws require accessibility to be a ‘built in’.

Access Issues

RetrofittingRetrofitting

Community LivingCommunity Living

A new building designed with street level access, wider doorways (or open concept), non-slip flooring, levered door handles, and braille signage at an accessible level may increase the cost of construction by a fraction of what it would cost to retrofit these buildings.

Access Issues

Aspects of AccessibilityAspects of Accessibility

Accessibility to information and communication is important. Braille signs and publications, large print documents properly bound, telephone listening devices, translators, auditory walk signals at street corners all contribute to the independence, confidence and security of people with disabilities and can increase their participation in routine daily activities.

Access Issues

Computer TechnologyComputer Technology

The technology exists now to allow people with disabilities to live independently as never before. Computer programs allow people with a variety of disabilities to interact with the rest of the world.

Access Issues

Other DevicesOther Devices

Voice recognition programs can be used both on the job, and at home. Scanners give access to standard print material that can be translated into auditory presentation. The internet has allowed an increase in communication around the globe.

Technology Issues

Technology CostsTechnology Costs

Devices cost money, and given the financial realities faced by people with disabilities, they are not as available as one would wish.

Technology Issues

Access to assistive devices is still one of many areas that can be improved.

SYSTEMSDON’TALWAYSHELP

SYSTEMSDON’TALWAYSHELP

Technology Issues

Many people with disabilities are still frozen out of the decisions that have a direct bearing on their lives. Often good intentions fall short of the mark.

Making DecisionsMaking Decisions

People first

Initiating programs for someone is patronizing; initiating programs with someone is partnership.

Canadians with disabilities are like everyone else. They have hopes and aspirations. They find identity in the community and they rely on the community for support and understanding. They want to make their own contribution.

Identity In The CommunityIdentity In The Community

People first

A person is a person… first!A person is a person… first!

People with disabilities want others to understand that they are persons first and foremost. They do not welcome the notion of being defined by a single characteristic. Terms such as ‘the blind’, ‘the handicapped’, and ‘the disabled’ have developed pejorative connotations.

People first

Language is CriticalLanguage is Critical

A person who uses a chair is not confined to the chair any more than a non disabled person is confined to his feet. Yet, these terms have become part of the language we use to characterize persons with a disability.

People first

The notion that people with disabilities exemplify noble human characteristics with their bravery and tenacity is unwarranted. No one volunteers to be disabled. There is enough to deal with without the added burden of being a paragon of virtue.

People first

A Paragon Of Virtue?A Paragon Of Virtue?

People first

Human in every wayHuman in every way

Some people with disabilities have a lovely personality, some are nasty, some have a dynamic wit, others couldn’t find a punch line with a map.

People with disabilities demonstrate the same range of human characteristics as everyone else.

Hopes And DesiresHopes And Desires

People first

People with disabilities have the same ambitions as anyone else. They may need accommodation to reach their goals and to fulfil their aspirations, but as is often pointed out: “We are no different than temporarily able bodied people….

In the final analysis, ‘a rose is a rose’, and a ‘person is a person.’

And NOW…

Let’s look at literacy!

The National Literacy Secretariat Says:

The National Literacy Secretariat Says:

“Literacy is the ability to understand and employ printed information in daily activities at home, at work and in the community in order to achieve one’s goals, and to develop one’s

knowledge and potential.”

Literacy Link

Taken from:“The Miss Hobbema Pageant”

By W.P. Kinsella

Literacy Link

“ ou know what I’d like more than anything else? To be able to read your books. I don’t know how else to say it, Silas, but when you can’t read or write,

Y

it kind of like being invisible”

For a person with a disability, literacy is about communication… any type of communication

Because…

But literacy is more than words and numbers.But literacy is more than words and numbers.

Literacy Link

“…those of us who do not read or write still find many ways by which we make ourselves understood. This too is literacy.”

Canadian Association for Community living

Literacy Link

Literacy — What it Means and Why it Matters Literacy — What it Means and Why it Matters

Literacy is a broad-based issue that is a major factor in the ability of Canadians to participate as full and active citizens in all areas of society. For this reason. Literacy is everyone’s business

Literacy Link

Consider the StatsConsider the Stats

Over 40% of Canadians between the ages of 16 & 65 have very-low or low levels of literacy.

8,000,000 Canadians, or 2/5 of working age Canadians, do not have the skills to participate fully in our economy and society.

Literacy Link

Literacy and LifestyleLiteracy and Lifestyle

A recent Literacy Study shows that 25% of Canadians have difficulty processing information based on documents they might encounter everyday… documents such as a bus schedule and prescription instructions. This has a critical impact on their quality of life.

Literacy Link

What Has Changed?What Has Changed?

• the world has become more complex and this requires higher skill levels to cope.

People with disabilities leave the starting gate already a lap behind because of educational deficiencies.

Literacy Link

• learning is a lifelong process and needs to take place in the workplace, community and in the family.

• we’ve moved away from our resource-based economy to a more ‘knowledge-based’ one.

We need to understand how the right to education for a person with a disability is affected because of the disability…

and then DEAL with it on the basis of

equality for all

Aboriginal PeopleIn Canada Aboriginal PeopleIn Canada

According to the 1991 Canada Census, 1,002,675 Canadians report Aboriginal origin…about 3% of Canada’s population.

Consider this...

Over 31% live with a disability.

What About Aboriginal People With A Disability?What About Aboriginal People With A Disability?

Aboriginal People with a disability are faced with basically the same type of problems as other ethnic communities; except the rate and scope of disability in Aboriginal communities is more than double that of other Canadian communities.

Consider this...

Worldwide ImplicationsWorldwide Implications

More than 500 million people around the world have a disability. They come from all walks of life, every age group, culture and economic situation. Their numbers are increasing as a result of population growth, civil strife and the steady improvement in life expectancy.

Consider this...

Equality For AllEquality For All

Over the past quarter century, Canadians have changed their constitution and laws to be instruments for equality and respect.

Consider this...

In Canadian society, there is no room for callousness or intolerance, and yet, some old attitudes die hard.

Consider this...

EVEN IF YOU’RE ONTHE RIGHT TRACK

EVEN IF YOU’RE ONTHE RIGHT TRACK

You’ll get run overif you just stand there!

Not The Last WordNot The Last Word

“Since its inception two decades ago, Reach has remained a positive force in the community, helping individuals with disabilities to retain quality legal advice and representation, and keeping Canadians informed about human rights and other issues facing people with disabilities….”

Consider this...

- Rt. Hon. Jean Chrétien

Disability & Literacy are

out of the closetDisability & Literacy are

out of the closet

Consider this...

Reach Canada