Welfare Reform on the Web (April 2012): Services for the disabled - overseas

Disability and dignity-enabling home environments

B.E. Gibson and others

Social Science and Medicine, vol. 74, 2012, p. 211-219

In Canada where long-term care is primarily oriented to elderly people and affordable accessible housing is limited, many younger disabled adults are living in circumstances that do not meet their health needs, place undue burdens on family members, isolate them from peers and contribute to their social exclusion. This is an ethical issue when policies and practices are unjustly perpetuating the exclusion of a particular group from meaningful social and civic engagement. This study undertook an ethical analysis of what would constitute an 'adequate' home environment for adults with significant mobility disabilities.

Vocational status and perceived well-being of workers with disabilities

A.M. Konrad and others

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, vol. 31, 2012, p. 100-123

The authors used data from the 2006 Participation and Activity Limitation Survey conducted by Statistics Canada to explore the association of under-employment, temporary employment, unemployment and non-participation in the labour force with perceived well-being among disabled adults. High quality jobs that were permanent and fully utilised a person's knowledge, skills and experience were positively linked to wellbeing for disabled workers. Temporary workers with disabilities experienced significantly fewer positive outcomes. Unemployed workers fared worst in terms of wellbeing, and the experiences of greatly underused permanent workers with disabilities were almost as negative as the experiences of their unemployed counterparts. Given the importance of employment status to the wellbeing of disabled people, organisations need to prepare managers and colleagues to work with this population.