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Monitoring the Human Rights of People with 
Disabilities in Canada

Toronto Monitoring Site Fact-sheet on Social Participation

July 2010

Disability Rights 
Promotion 
International Canada (DRPI Canada) is a community-university alliance that works to build capacity and systems for monitoring 
the human rights of 
people with disabilities 
in Canada. 

DRPI Canada coordinates work among four monitoring themes: systemic (laws and policy), individual 
experiences (personal experiences), media (coverage of disability), and survey datasets (information collected by population surveys). Persons with disabilities and their organizations are involved at all levels of the project.

In this study the human rights experiences of people with disabilities were monitored across several domains: access to 
justice, education, information and communication, support 
services, health and habilitation, work, family and social 
participation. This fact-sheet focuses on social participation which, for the purposes of this study, encompasses inclusion in 
society (including freedom of choice of living arrangement, 
access to community supports, services and facilities), as 
well as participation in cultural and political life and 
participation in sports, recreation and leisure activities. 

Key Findings

·Issues related to social participation are the top priority for persons with disabilities interviewed in Toronto, being raised by 90% of the interviewees. 79% of these reports dealt with violations of rights related to social participation.


· Violations based on discrimination are the most pervasive, being reported by 70% of the interviewees. 


·Lack of accessibility in the built environment and problems with transportation are among the greatest 
barriers preventing the full participation of persons with disabilities in social life.


·Women are more likely to report discrimination and 
exclusion in social participation and men more likely to 
report lack of autonomy. These results suggest that gender intersects with disability to shape differently women’s and men’s lives and human rights experiences differently. 





Measuring the Gap for Torontonians with disabilities (Social Participation)

Rights

Reality

Accessibility for Ontarians with 
Disabilities Act

•Accessibility standards to achieve accessibility for all Ontarians with disabilities with respect to services, facilities, accommodation, buildings


•Involvement of persons with disabilities in the development of accessibility standards




``One time, all of my board members were 
staying at a hotel that was pretty inaccessible 
and I had to stay in a hotel down the street. … It 
was really awful and the street was a super big 
hill, and then I would go to the other hotel they 
were staying at and I had to go in from a pretty 
bad back entrance. I actually couldn’t stay with 
the rest of the people I was with because of 
inaccessibility.`` (Female, age n.a.)



Denial or Violation of Human Rights Principles by Sex(Social Participation)Denial or Violation of Human Rights Principles by Sex (Social Participation)
Lack of 
autonomy

Discrimination 
& inequality

Exclusion & 
inaccessibility 

Erosion of 
dignity

Disrespect for 
difference

0

10

20

30

40

50

Male

Female



%




It’s frustrating, lack of 
accessibility makes me 
feel like I’m not 
included, like I’m not 
part of the society that 
surrounds me. (Male, 
38 years old)

I use a segregated transportation system that I don’t want to 
use, I don’t get to use public transit with everybody else … I 
cannot do anything in an evening because I never know 
when I can get home... It inhibits me because I don’t take on 
some of the things I’d like to do. I don’t get to go to people I 
would like to visit, I don’t get to go to a movie at the theatre, 
or some of the volunteer things I like to do. (Female, age n.a.)