Overcoming Barriers to Training and Education among Canadians with Disabilities

By Canadian Council on Learning The equality rights of Canadians with disabilities are protected under Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In addition, the Canadian Human Rights Act requires employers and service providers under federal jurisdiction to accommodate, short of undue hardship, the needs of people with disabilities. These provisions, along with other legislation enacted by federal and provincial governments, are based on the recognition that a civil society must make every effort to ensure full participation for everyone.

For the 14.3% of Canadians who live with disabilities, full participation remains elusive (Statistics Canada, 2007). For example, among Canadians aged 15 to 64 without a disability, 75% are employed—compared to just 51% of those with a disability (Statistics Canada, 2008; see Figure 1 below).

Source: Statistics Canada - Participation and Activity Limitation Survey of 2006: Labour Force Experience of People with Disabilities in Canada

Canadians with disabilities experience a number of different barriers to labour force participation, including activity limitations that preclude employment and discrimination in hiring practices.

Inadequate skills and education can also present a barrier to employment among those with disabilities. Canadians with disabilities have markedly poorer literacy skills than non-disabled Canadians—this is especially true for those with learning disabilities but also true for those with other types of disabilities (Kapsalis, 1999). Canadians with disabilities have lower levels of educational attainment than non-disabled Canadians. For example, 25% of non-disabled Canadians are without a high school diploma compared to 37% of those with a disability (Statistics Canada, 2001).

Stronger skills and more education may be key to greater labour force participation and employment among Canadians with disabilities. While the relationships between disability, education, employment and literacy are complex, it is clear that disabilities and literacy can have compounding effects. Individuals with disabilities often encounter educational barriers, which interfere with the development of literacy skills. This, in turn, discourages individuals with disabilities from pursuing further educational opportunities, resulting in fewer employment opportunities. Unemployment further limits work-related opportunities to practice and develop literacy skills, which can contribute to the erosion of literacy skills (Willms & Murray, 2007).

How can Canadians with disabilities overcome barriers to education and training to develop stronger skills and improve their labour force outcomes? In 2008, the Canadian Council on Learning’s Adult Learning Knowledge Centre initiated a community outreach project aimed at people with disabilities within Atlantic Canada. The Independent Living Resource Centre (ILRC) was selected to engage in research within the disability communities in the four Atlantic Provinces.

Through partner organizations in each province, respondents were asked a series of questions about their individual disabilities, their experiences with adult learning, the barriers they had encountered as learners, and the strategies and changes they recommended for overcoming those barriers (MacLean, MacKinnon & Miller, 2008). The main barriers encountered by learners with disabilities were:

•    Physical accessibility. In many cases, buildings or classrooms were inaccessible. In other cases, learners were unable to access public transportation and had no way to travel to learning opportunities.
•    Financial issues. Courses and programs are often unaffordable for learners with disabilities, who also find it difficult to successfully negotiate the red tape and waiting lists associated with student aid.
•    Attitudes. Learners with disabilities reported that their instructors did not always allow for the disability-related accommodations they required, such as note-takers or additional time for test-taking.

Respondents to the community outreach project made several recommendations to assist in ameliorating physical and societal barriers to learning. Several common themes emerged, including the importance of:

•    Securing funding accessible to learners with disabilities;
•    Providing accessible transportation and buildings/classrooms;
•    Providing alternative formats for learning and testing;
•    Creating peer support networks and services for adult learners with disabilities;
•    Establishing disability awareness training for educators.

A number of researchers have shown that the greatest returns on investment in training and education accrue to those who start at the lowest levels of education (Riddell, 2006). As Canadians with disabilities are more likely than their non-disabled counterparts to be without a high school diploma, these Canadians stand to see some of the greatest benefits from investments in their education and training. Efforts to overcome barriers to learning and, ultimately, improve labour force outcomes promise to yield economic, social and equity benefits.


Figure 1: Labour force outcomes for Canadians with and without disabilities