DISABILITY ACCESS

Many people don’t know how to use those rights to create change in their communities and in their personal lives.

• More than one million Canadians have disabilities but half are not physically active.
• Of the 535,000 Canadian youth with disabilities, slightly more than half can participate in community sports programs.
• Half of these young people say they would like to be more physically active but don’t have the resources or support.

What’s standing in their way? Barriers!

Your disability is only a small part of who you are. It shouldn’t be an excuse to limit your participation in a community’s life. You have the right to challenge all the barriers that could stand in your way—for example:

• Knowledge and attitude barriers: The way that other people think about disabilities often keeps them from including you in their activities.
• Systemic barriers: Some organizations don’t think of ways to make it easier for you to take part in their offerings.
• Physical barriers: For example, lack of wheelchair-accessible entrances, family change rooms, and so on make it difficult for you to participate.