5. Canadian Indicators for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) - article 19: living independently and being included in the community
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- 5.1 Having a strong sense of belonging to their local community
- 5.2 Having a strong sense of belonging to their town or city
- 5.3 Having trust in their neighbourhood
- 5.4 Feeling isolated from others
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A PDF version of the Canadian Indicators for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is available on the index page.
5.1 Having a strong sense of belonging to their local community
Figure 5.1 – Text description
| Gender | Persons with disabilities | Persons without disabilities |
|---|---|---|
| Men+ | 64% | 76%* |
| Women+ | 69% | 78%* |
- * significantly different from estimate for persons with disabilities in the same gender category (p<0.05)
- Notes: Respondents were asked to describe their sense of belonging to their local community based on the following choices: "very strong", "somewhat strong", "somewhat weak", "very weak" or "no opinion". The estimates above refer to the proportion who reported a "very strong" or "somewhat strong" sense of belonging to their local community.
- To protect the confidentiality of non-binary persons, a two-category gender variable was used, given the relatively small size of this population in Canada. Non-binary respondents were redistributed into the men and women categories, denoted as "men+" and "women+" in charts and tables.
- * significantly different from estimate for persons with disabilities in the same gender category (p<0.05)
- Differences between men and women are statistically significant only among persons with disabilities (p<0.05).
- Source: Statistics Canada, General Social Survey - Social Identity, 2020 (Social Research Division calculations).
Persons with disabilities were less likely than persons without disabilities to indicate that they had a strong sense of belonging to their local community. Among persons with disabilities, 64% of men and 69% of women cited strong community ties. This compares to 76% of men and 78% of women without disabilities. Women with disabilities had a greater sense of belonging to their local community than men with disabilities (69% versus 64%).
5.2 Having a strong sense of belonging to their town or city
Figure 5.2 – Text description
| Gender | Persons with disabilities | Persons without disabilities |
|---|---|---|
| Men+ | 70% | 80%* |
| Women+ | 74% | 83%* |
- * significantly different from estimate for persons with disabilities in the same gender category (p<0.05)
- Notes: Respondents were asked to describe their sense of belonging to their town or city based on the following choices: "very strong", "somewhat strong", "somewhat weak" or "very weak", and "no opinion". The estimates above refer to the proportion who reported a "very strong" or "somewhat strong" sense of belonging to their town or city.
- To protect the confidentiality of non-binary persons, a two-category gender variable was used, given the relatively small size of this population in Canada. Non-binary respondents were redistributed into the men and women categories, denoted as "men+" and "women+" in charts and tables.
- * significantly different from estimate for persons with disabilities in the same gender category (p<0.05)
- Differences between men and women were statistically significant for both persons with and without disabilities (p<0.05).
- Source: Statistics Canada, General Social Survey - Social Identity, 2020 (Social Research Division calculations).
Persons with disabilities were less likely than persons without disabilities to report a strong sense of belonging to their town or city. Among persons with disabilities, 70% of men and 74% of women had a strong sense of belonging to their town or city. This compares to 80% of men and 83% of women without disabilities. Women had a greater sense of belonging to their town or city than men, for both persons with disabilities (74% versus 70%) and persons without disabilities (83% versus 80%).
5.3 Having trust in their neighbourhood
Figure 5.3 – Text description
| Gender | Persons with disabilities | Persons without disabilities |
|---|---|---|
| Men+ | 11% | 17%* |
| Women+ | 13% | 18%* |
- * significantly different from estimate for persons with disabilities in the same gender category (p<0.05)
- Notes: Respondents were asked how many people they trusted in their neighbourhood and were provided with the following choices: "most of the people", "many of the people", "a few of the people", or "nobody". The estimates above refer to the proportion who reported that they trusted "most of the people".
- To protect the confidentiality of non-binary persons, a two-category gender variable was used, given the relatively small size of this population in Canada. Non-binary respondents were redistributed into the men and women categories, denoted as "men+" and "women+" in charts and tables.
- * significantly different from estimate for persons with disabilities in the same gender category (p<0.05)
- Differences between men and women are statistically significant only among persons with disabilities (p<0.05).
- Source: Statistics Canada, General Social Survey - Social Identity, 2020 (Social Research Division calculations).
Persons with disabilities were less likely than persons without disabilities to trust people in their neighbourhood. Among persons with disabilities,11% of men and 13% of women reported that they trusted most of the people in their neighbourhood. This compares to 17% of men and 18% of women without disabilities.
5.4 Feeling isolated from others
Figure 5.4 – Text description
| Age group | Gender | Milder disabilities | More severe disabilities |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 to 64 years | Men+ | 12% | 34%* |
| 65 years and over | Men+ | 4% | 14%* |
| 15 to 64 years | Women+ | 12% | 34%* |
| 65 years and over | Women+ | 3% | 14%* |
- * significantly different from estimate for persons with milder disabilities within the same age and gender group (p<0.05)
- Notes: Respondents were asked how often they feel isolated from others and were provided with the following answer options: "hardly ever", "some of the time", "often". The estimates above refer to the proportion who reported that they "often" feel isolated from others.
- Respondents who answered the survey themselves were asked this question; proxy respondents were excluded.
- "Milder" refers to those with mild or moderate disabilities, and "more severe" refers to those with severe or very severe disabilities.
- To protect the confidentiality of non-binary persons, a two-category gender variable was used, given the relatively small size of this population in Canada. Non-binary persons were redistributed into the men and women categories, denoted as "men+" and "women+" in charts and tables. The "men+" category includes cisgender and transgender men and boys, as well as some non-binary persons; and the "women+" category includes cisgender and transgender women and girls, as well as some non-binary persons.
- * significantly different from estimate for persons with milder disabilities within the same age and gender group (p<0.05)
- For both men and women, regardless of severity, estimates for persons aged 65 years and over are significantly different from those for persons aged 15 to 64 years (p<0.05).
- Differences by gender were not statistically significant across age groups and levels of severity (p<0.05).
- Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Survey on Disability, 2022 (Social Research Division calculations).
Among persons aged 15 to 64 years, men and women with more severe disabilities were more likely than those with milder disabilities to report often feeling isolated from others (34% versus 12%). Similarly, among persons aged 65 years and over, men and women with more severe disabilities (14%) were more likely than those with milder disabilities to report often feeling isolated from others (4% and 3% respectively).
Persons with disabilities aged 15 to 64 years were more likely to report often feeling isolated from others than those aged 65 years and over for both men and women regardless of severity level. For example, men and women with more severe disabilities aged 15-64 years (34%) were more likely than those aged 65 years and over (14%) to report often feeling isolated.