Participation and desire: leisure activities among Canadian adults with disabilities

As a signatory of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Canada has assumed the obligation to foster the fundamental right of individuals with impairments to participate in all normal activities and relationships of society. Currently, however, relatively little is known about the extent to which Canadians with disabilities are able to exercise of this right. Previous research has investigated the employment status and commute distance of persons with disabilities in Canada. In this paper, we use the 2006 Participation and Activity Limitation Survey to investigate, from the perspective of Canadian adults with disabilities, the factors that influence (1) their frequency of participation in various leisure and recreation activities; (2) the role of transportation in activity participation; and (3) the desire for more leisure and recreation activities during spare time. The latter question is closely associated to the experience of exclusion. The results of the analysis indicate that some of the very factors that tend to reduce participation also relate to a desire for more leisure and recreation activities.