By Elena Kingsbury, FSWC Senior Educator
Why should Canadians celebrate International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) on December 3? It is an important opportunity to sensitize Canadian students to the experiences of persons living with disabilities, as well as the unique challenges of accessibility and recognition that impact more than 1 billion people globally, including here in Canada. It is a time to talk about obstacles and barriers; it is also an important occasion for celebrating the incredible resilience and achievements of people living with disabilities, whether physical or mental, and to centre their voices in the ongoing fight to make our schools and communities more equitable. For those of us living without disabilities, awareness is the first step toward meaningful change in dismantling barriers in our laws and ways of thinking.
This occasion for recognition in our schools is even more relevant given there is a growing number of young Canadians living with one or more disabilities in the post-COVID world. Findings from the 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability (CSD) show that 27% of Canadians aged 15 years and older (roughly eight million people) had one or more disabilities that limited them in their daily activities. In 2022, 20% of youth surveyed (ages 15 to 24) had a disability, a significant increase since 2017. Among youth with disabilities, mental health-related were the most common type (68%), followed by learning (46%) and pain-related (34%) disabilities. Troublingly, mental health-related disabilities among both youth and working-age adults increased from 2017, representing the largest increase among all disability types and all age groups over the last five years.
A great way to initiate a conversation about International Day of Persons with Disabilities among your students is to ask them to think about how disability touches their own lives. Do any of their loved ones live with disabilities? Do they have friends or classmates with different abilities? Is it something they experience themselves? Ask them to consider different types of disabilities, and that some of them are visible and some are not. Furthermore, remind students that disabilities can impact anyone that is currently able-bodied, and are especially common as we get older and experience changes to our lives.
Activity 1: Explore the DisAbility Issue of Kayak Magazine
Kayak Magazine is Canada’s history zine for kids. In 2022, its September Issue was devoted to the topic of disability with a focus on youth, including the experiences of Indigenous and other racialized youth. Give students time to explore this accessible online PDF. Have them answer the following questions:
1. Using stories and content from anywhere in the magazine, provide at least three examples of discrimination that Canadians living with disabilities have faced in our country’s history?
2. Please provide an example of an invention that was created to help people with disabilities to better participate in society.
3. Identify a person living with a disability featured in the magazine that you consider a role model (they can either be from history or current times). What did they achieve? Why does this inspire you?
Activity 2: Hall of Fame Heroes- Biographies of Canadians Living with Disabilities
The Canadian Disability Hall of Fame (CDHF) has provided permanent recognition of outstanding Canadians who have made extraordinary contributions to enriching the quality of life for people with physical disabilities. This public exhibit was officially opened on February 11, 1994. It is open to the public on the main floor of Metro Hall, at 55 John Street in Toronto.
Encourage your students to explore the biographies of Hall of Fame Inductees at the link provided below. Ask students to select the biography of one individual and have them provide the “5 W’s”. After they have finished answering the questions, ask them to write a short paragraph about their chosen person, which they will then read aloud to the rest of the class.
1. Who is the person?
2. Are they considered a Builder, an Achiever, or an Athlete? What did they achieve?
3. What kinds of challenges have they faced?
4. What can we learn from their story?
Link: https://www.cfpdp.com/previous-hall-of-fame-inductees/
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