3 Ability and Disability

“There are only two kinds of people in the world: people with a disability and people yet to have a disability.” 

– Judith Neumann, Special Advisor for International Disability Rights at the U.S. Department of State

Different writers, researchers, advocates or policymakers define or refer to ‘disability’ in distinct ways.  While we generally refer to disability in an expansive way, many of the policies, standards, or publications referenced in this scan have a more precise definition.  Similarly, there are sometimes references to the ‘disability community’, although there is no universally agreed-upon conception of what the ‘disability community’ is.^[1]  Sub-communities organized around specific identifiers – the ‘Deaf community’,^[2] for example, are sometimes easier to identify and describe.

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) defines those with disabilities as “those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.”^[3]  For the purpose of this scan, we are specifically focused on the experiences of adults experiencing any form of disability, whether permanent, episodic or temporary.

One in five Canadian adults live with a disability.^[4]  Nearly one in three Indigenous People in Canada live with a disability.^[5] More Canadians are experiencing either a disability or chronic illness now than at any time in the nation’s history, partly driven by an aging population, but also supercharged by an estimated 1.4 million citizens who may have long COVID.^[6] In addition, all Canadians experience disability on a temporary or situational basis.^[7]

When talking about disabilities, there is nuance in how to refer to persons with disabilities which centers on person-first or identity-first language.^[8]  Identity-first places the identifier first, such as in Blind person, whereas Person-first places the person first, as when saying a person who is Blind. There is not one approach universally accepted as to how terminology should be used as it can be context, person, and disability specific.^[9]  This also extends to formatting and capitalization, ie deaf or Deaf.^[10]  Inclusive language evolves over time,^[11] and this scan is not intended to preference one approach over the other. Instead our aim is to use phrases that have been self-identified or used in the resources noted.

People living with disabilities do not have the same access to experiences and opportunities as able-bodied Canadians.  They experience entrenched ableism and an array of physical barriers, but also barriers to employment and flourishing economic livelihoods. The combination of accessibility needs and requirements are wide-ranging, and cross many domains of life, work and citizenship.

To say that disability is diverse is an understatement.  The pages of this scan could not contain even a fraction of the varieties of disability that different people experience or live with.  Disability is encountered and expressed in many different ways,^[12] including as sensory limitations (eyesight and hearing most commonly), missing or malformed limbs, pain, limited flexibility or mobility, limited speech, or as any number of mental health challenges.  There is also a strong overlap between illness (especially chronic illness) and disability, though they are not the same thing.

Disability can be visible (as when someone is using a wheelchair, white cane, or hearing aid), episodically visible (e.g. epilepsy) or invisible (also called ‘hidden’ or ‘non-apparent’, such as renal failure, tinnitus, or conditions where chronic pain, dizziness or vertigo are present). Invisible disability accompanies the vast majority of people with chronic illness.  Certain disabilities are sometimes more common within certain demographics. For example, mental health challenges for young adults and mobility challenges for seniors.  As one Canadian study summarized, “the  most common types of disability are pain, agility, and mobility, followed by learning, hearing,  seeing, and speaking [disabilities], followed by psychiatric, memory, and developmental disabilities. The main causes of disabilities are an accident, collision, or injury; a disease or illness; followed by work conditions.”^[13]

Disability can be congenital/developmental (e.g. cerebral palsy), acquired through injury or disease (e.g. a brain injury from a ski accident or from encephalitis), or accompanying certain life stages, particularly aging.  It can be cognitive (mental) or non-cognitive (physical), although the mind-body distinction is perhaps an arbitrary and arguably false dichotomy (or is more a matter of philosophy than of medical science).

Among the many dimensions is whether disability is permanent, temporary (e.g. a broken limb), or episodic (e.g. snow blindness).  According to the Rick Hansen Foundation, over half of adult Canadians have experienced either a permanent, temporary or episodic disability.^[14]  Episodic disabilities fluctuate between periods of wellness and impairment or ill health (e.g. depression, arthritis, diabetes, lupus).  Pregnancy is an example of a temporary disability; though medically or sociologically that is not a correct characterization (and would not show up in disabilities statistics); but, for the practical purposes of talking about accessibility, it absolutely is relevant.

In a very shallow sense, ability and disability are antonyms.  But they are far from binary concepts.  Ability and disability often serve as the polar ends of a range of continua, for example with respect to vision, hearing, tactile range, ambulatory mobility, oral expression, and so on. Yet there is little value in comparing experiences along this binary when scanning for improved accessibility.  Forms of disability which could be considered mild – for example, colour blindness, dyslexia, ADHD, and various phobias – may still be experienced as profound barriers to learning, socialization, or other aspects of the human experience.  Some conditions are so common, such as standard myopia or astigmatism, that it would potentially stretch the definition of disability to the point of being almost meaningless.  Yet, even these can restrict the full range of options and experiences available to fully able-bodied persons (piloting a plane, for example).

Adding another dimension of complexity, some people with disabilities may have heightened skills and aptitudes in some domains. Many visually-impaired people have superior tactile sensing abilities^[15] or a mastery of music and sound engineering, and some individuals with Autism may have “fixated interests”^[16] in particular subjects that result in an Autistic person becoming an expert in their field of study.^[17] These heightened skills can be beneficial, but caution is needed to not suggest the disability is any less significant or serious, or that accommodations are not needed.

The final category of disability is situational disability. Situational disability results from micro-incidents of impairment experienced by everyone, in some way, nearly every day (e.g. unable to read a sign due to light glare, or unable to open a door due to your hands being full of bags and/or children, etc.).  It is sometimes confused with temporary disabilities, described earlier, which are typically impairments due to injury or illness.  While situational disability plays an important role in universal design, it is not typically included in disability statistics and is not explicitly included as part of the ambit of this scan.