Living Deafblind: A modern-historical exploration of disability (Part 4)

CANADIAN STATISTICS ON DISABILITY

Statistics Canada stated in their report that the severity of disability often increases the difficulty of making certain kinds of work unsuitable and require to limit the number of hours they work or may require other workplace accommodations. In general, only ~62% of people with disabilities, ages 25 to 54 participate in the workforce. They are also often expected to end their working life at 55 or even 57 if you look at the government program eligibility criteria. Of course, women experience higher rates of unemployment to men (13.4% to 9.5%). They are more likely to work part time, as women tend to in general. Access to information helps people with disabilities to develop self-determination, self-advocacy, there is a lack of support experienced by deafblind youth who do not expect to work and be able to participate in society (Hersh, 2013). Near half of those with disabilities perceived labour force discrimination in that they felt disadvantaged due to their condition or felt that they were perceived to be considered disadvantaged by the employer.

Surprisingly, given the numbers above, nearly 28% of women with disabilities reported wages or salaries, only a few points less than men. Women were less likely to be self-employed though (7.7% and 12.5%). The rest reported assistance of sorts in 2012. Unsurprisingly, however is that women with disabilities have a lower average income compared to all three other cohorts (women without disabilities and men with or without disabilities). In Atlantic Canada, where I live, Women with disabilities reported on average 30,290$ personal income, versus women without at 33,930$. Imagine! I achieved a position of making up to 84,000$ a year at the time of my departure before burning out to rebuild my life. In Canada, the average income increases as a household, but dives deeply if the women with disabilities lives alone.

It is here, in employment where life as a person with disabilities, who, if they managed to achieve a certain level of education, becomes a missing puzzle piece: in the labour force. The statistics surrounding people with disabilities in Canada tell a less successful story than what I have lived. I am one of 14% of those with disabilities who hold a bachelor's degree; I am one of an even smaller percentage as the number decreases with higher education and severity of disability (Statistics Canada, 2012). People with disabilities often require more time or a modified schedule in order to complete their work (Statistics Canada, 2012). Then there is the issue of paying for assistive devices. Statistics Canada (2012) reported that 80% of those with disabilities require assistive devices and 27% of them said they did not have a needed aid. Cost is often cited as a barrier to obtaining aids.

Of course, common sense, as the severity of the disability increases, as does the cost. I am also one of the 86% of women who use prescription medications at least once a week – mine is medical marijuana. This is never covered under any benefit plan anyway, so this is out of pocket regardless. Hardly any articles talk about financial implications of disability given the societal attitudes and institutional barriers. I cannot even really add much on the cost of disability other than my own experiences. However, there are lots of statistics to demonstrate financial barriers. I realize not many people would really understand the economics of living with disability. In reality, although people with disabilities are expected to make lower than average incomes, they require supports that cost money beyond what the average person experiences.

According to Statistics Canada, in 2012, there were more women than men reporting disability, women with disabilities are more like to be alone and even single parents than their male counterparts, and pain related disabilities are the highest for both genders. I learned that I am a member of the group of women with disabilities who have been single parents (11%) and to have lived alone (24.6%). And by the way, according to one of my classmates from my doctoral seminar course women, single parents in vulnerable sectors are most likely to wind up in abusive relationships. Talk about scary. Even scarier, I have fallen victim. There were also some fears that I always had confirmed. Like, I worried that being a woman with disabilities would be hard for a partner to handle. Turns out, men with disabilities were more likely to be married while women tend to be alone (14.5% of women versus 8.9% of men). Only 5.8% of women with disabilities even have a child living with them versus the 16.1% of women without disabilities who have children living with them.

One enlightening table as part of Statistics Canada’s Participation and Activity Limitation Survey from 2006 is the one that shows that children with disabilities who live with their parents are more engaged with virtual peer networks than organized and non-organized sports activities (Stat Can). Age, sex, and place of residence all play a role. Age wise, the percentage goes from 60% in ages 5 to 9 up to 82% for ages 10 to 14 years old. I imagine this rate continuing to increase with age. Not surprisingly, more youth in urban areas participated in organized sports. However, the numbers for virtual were close to even (78% rural and 71% urban). For some reason, virtual participation and participation in non-organized sports was higher for girls (80 versus 69 for virtual and 61 versus 51 for sports). Very curious is that those who were more involved in virtual communities felt there were fewer societal and personal barriers to participation. Indeed, this virtual participation is where youth feel there are fewer societal and personal barriers to participation (Statistics Canada, 2012). I can imagine that as of 2019, that number is high for almost age group and not just people with disabilities. I believe there are key skills can be learned to help a youth with disabilities achieve their life goals. However, learning these skills does not automatically occur.

DISABILITY HISTORY

Over the last century, society has changed how it treats people with disabilities. In the late 19th and early 20th century, people with impairments were actively segregated from the general population. I have wondered how they navigated the system in their day and age to become successes in their own rights. My follow-up question is, “how would they achieve the same in today’s day and age?”. So, how did a person a hundred years ago manage to feel included before technology? How did a person with disabilities participate in society? How did they navigate social situations, including dating without online dating? I know I always feel lucky as a person with disabilities to not have been shoved into an institution at their mercy because even 60 years ago, that is probably what would have happened, depending on my family’s financial situation and government structures accessible at that time.

In the early 1900s, it was commonly accepted to be deaf and different communication styles were highly debated. In Gray’s book on Bell, she describes the nineteenth century to be a place where “many people thought deaf was a perfectly good way to be – as good as hearing, perhaps better” (page 283). Bell himself was shaped by his mother’s and then his wife’s hearing impairments and developed a “certainty that most hearing-impaired people could master lip-reading and mix easily with hearing people” and saw lip-reading as preferable over sign language (page 282). That said, he had also confided to Helen Keller that he truly believed that disability should never prevent someone from living a full life, a full range of human experience.

The Eastern seaboard of the United States and Canada had very strong ties, going back centuries. Around the 1900s, it was common in the United States to find asylums, public houses, schools for the blind, schools for the deaf and other political and residential institutions. Eastern Canada was expanding its institutions at the time too. At home, in Moncton, New Brunswick, the Moncton hospital was an extension of an almshouse (housing built for poor people where if they did not pay rent, a poorhouse, which eventually turned into “NB Housing”) in 1898 that became a large hospital structure by the 1950s (Mullally and MacDonald, 2017). Fear of going to the poorhouse was real enough in recent memories that it was still a saying I would here from time to time growing up. Unfortunately, I found out it was not necessarily said in jest but because it was a real possibility. Nowadays people have a lot more options to them to keep independent.

The cusp of the 20th century was wild with innovation as the Boston Expo, Industrial revolutionists, philanthropists of old money and visionaries ruled the Eastern seaboard of the United States of America, or as Canadians call it, “The States”. It is from this era you hear tell of people such as Alexander Graham Bell. He is most known for the invention of the telephone and lesser known for his work to improve the lives of those who suffered from deafness as his had seen his mother growing up with her deafness (while also being heavily influenced by his father’s ingenuity). He is sometimes remembered for his misguided concern for inter-disabled marriages out of eugenic fear. That said, he successfully did open up dialogue and funded an incredible amount of people and programs alike. One of the people he “sponsored” was Helen Keller. Most 21st century people know her from the famous scene of her teacher, Anne Sullivan, at a water pump and spelling out each letter for “water” in the young girl’s hand before she finally understands and says out loud “water”. This moment of comprehension is incredible to witness even as an audience member of the infamous plays: that moment a deafblind girl learns to communicate with her teacher. Communication is the key here: Bell gave not just the world the ability to communicate by telegraph, but also the deaf to participate in society with hearing devices. Thanks to Bell and places like the Perkins Institute for the Blind, marginalized yet prosperous families had options for their disabled kids. For the first time ever, the deaf and “dumb” were able to interact with others in society in unprecedented ways. Thus, began an accessibility revolution.