Does higher education support the integration of people with disabilities in Canadian society? BC CACUSS - Vancouver, May 24-27, 2015 Mary Ann McColl, PhD Clarke Wilson, PhD Centre for Health Services and Policy Research School of Urban & Regional Planning Centre for Health Services and Policy Research School of Rehabilitation Therapy Jeanette Parsons, MSc. MPA School of Rehabilitation Therapy
Queens Student Accessibility Services Funding Acknowledgement Government of Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges & Universities Ontario Human Capital Research & Innovation Fund Session Overview Project aim & research questions Policy development postsecondary education in Ontario General Social Survey Results Time budget, activity sequence analysis Economic Impacts Concluding remarks Questions, answers, discussion
Project Aim: Examine the connection among public policy on access to postsecondary education(PSE), educational attainment and integration of disabled persons into Ontario society. Research Questions 1. Have the daily routines of disabled students become more like the daily routines of nondisabled students over time? 2. Do disabled persons with PSE behave more like the general population than those without? 3. Is there a measurable economic benefit to disabled persons from PSE? Students with Disabilities: Postsecondary Policy in Ontario Year
Development 1988 Welsey Report 1989 Accessibility Fund for Students with Disabilities 1999 2000 Human rights case law 2003 Opportunity to Succeed OHRC 2004
Guidelines on Accessible Education 2005 Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act 2013 Policy on preventing discrimination based on mental health disabilities & addictions 2014 Accessibility Fund for Students with Disabilities Review Daily Activity = Evaluative Tool Canada General Social Survey (GSS) Conducted annually since 1985 Daily time use data collected roughly every 5
years Yesterday diary & demographic characteristics Period studied: 1992 2010 Time budget = total time spent in activities Demographics 2010 GSS estimates 110,100 students with disabilities in Canada 56,638 students with disabilities in 1992 = 94% increase in 18 years 3.7% annual growth rate = 40% larger than overall postsecondary rate (2.6%) 2010 General Social Survey N Disabled Students Non-Disabled Students 25 Years & Older
Women 110,101 49% 62% 1,366,3 83 29% 54% Disability and Postsecondary Education - Ontario 1992 Total Population Ontarians with
2010 Chang e 7.6M 10.9M 43% 1.3M (17%) 2.2M (21%) 68% 1.27M 5.76M( 54.7 353%
Disabilities PSE with degree all Ontarians (18.7%) %) PSE with degree 152K(< 933K(43%) Ontarians with disabilities 12%) 514%
Time Budget Snapshot 2010 Time Spent in Minutes Activity Disability No Disability Screen time 149 101 Social 112 130
Travel 108 90 Personal care 78 59 Active leisure 70 32 Shopping, services
25 32 Child care 7 11 Heavy housework 3 8 Time budget analysis: 1992 2010 All PSE Students 10 minutes or less = difference in time spent on any activity over 18 year period
Very little change in student daily routines Disabled students Spent more time than non-disabled peers: personal care, screen time, travel and studies Results of time budget analysis: Routines of disabled students did not become more similar to those of non-disabled students over 18 years Activity Sequence Analysis: 1992 - 2010 In 2010, all students were less similar in their daily activities than students in 1992: Similarity in activities declined only by 1.8% in 18 years Comparing students with disabilities to nondisabled students from 1992 to 2010: Similarity in activities declined by 1.4% in 18 years Difference between 1.4% and 1.8% = slight relative
convergence Influence of PSE: Time use and daily activity People with disabilities became slightly more similar to non- disabled individuals in time use/daily activity from 1992 to 2010 Disabled persons with secondary education started off significantly less similar, became more similar to non-disabled persons; more convergence Disabled persons with postsecondary education started off more similar to non-disabled persons; less convergence PSE and Economics Impacts: Ontario 2010 Average additional minutes paid work/day PSE generated Annual marginal earnings/person
Estimated labour force with PSE Estimated economic impact Disabilit y 42 No Disability 30 $5,865 $4,180 588K 3.86M $3.4
$16.2 Non-employment benefits of PSE Example: Childcare Assumption: inputs PSE leads to greater parental time Ontarians with disabilities: PSE = 12 additional minutes of child care activity Ontarians without disabilities PSE = 14 additional minutes of child care activity Estimated economic impact: ~$1.5B Evaluating disability accommodation policy
Estimating economic impacts not a true estimate of net benefits of public education Ontario PSE comes with substantial price tag MTCU Budget 2013 - $6.4B Tuition Credit for economic input is shared - government investment, tuition and other factors Concluding Remarks Policy landscape for students disabilities has evolved significantly since 1988 Activity patterns of disabled Canadians becoming slightly more similar to non-disabled individuals Impact of PSE on Canadians with disabilities: Enrollment growing 40% faster than for nondisabled Estimated earning impact of PSE 40% greater than non-disabled Other benefits evident (e.g., childcare activities) References
Wilson, C. 2006, Reliability of sequence-alignment analysis of social processes: Monte Carlo tests of ClustalG software, Environment and Planning A, 38, 187-204.
