Many Canadians with physical disabilities report disrupted levels of participation in several important aspects of community life such as employment, sports and active recreation, and simply being able to move about their communities independently and with dignity (i.e., community mobility). As a result, not only do people with physical disabilities have lower rates of community participation than their able-bodied counterparts, their quality of participation (e.g., enjoyment, satisfaction) is also poorer. The goal of our research and knowledge mobilization (KM) program is to enhance the quantity and quality of community participation among Canadians living with physical disabilities by developing, mobilizing and evaluating theory- and evidence-based strategies to enhance community participation. This research and KM program will focus on three community participation domains that people with physical disabilities consistently identify as being the most restrictive, as well as the domains in which they most desire greater participation: employment, mobility, and sports. In addition, our efforts will also focus on understanding and enhancing the psychosocial quality of participation (e.g., feelings of meaningful engagement, autonomy, responsibility, and social connectedness).
•To describe and understand participation, its barriers and facilitators in the disability community.
•To identify effective Knowledge Mobilization methods.
•To create interventions/practices to enhance participation.
•To implement and evaluate the interventions and practices.
This project will generate data to better understand life course transitions which workers with disabilities face (e.g., young adults with disabilities trying to engage in employment; middle-aged adults with disabilities trying to sustain employment as older workers, etc). The project will focus on developing more comprehensive theories to capture a life course perspective among workers with disabilities, as well as specific strategies that would enable workers to join the workforce, meet their employment goals, and sustain work. The findings will be of relevance to workers with disabilities, employers (e.g., HR), and not-for-profit groups who work with people with disabilities to find employment and meet accommodation needs.