Poverty and Barriers to Employment
Disability and Poverty
Within the disability and poverty report the first thing that is stated is 3 issues within disability and employment.
Lack of support
Lack of progress
Better Data
The most recent employment data openly available is from 2012 Which shows a significant gap between the employment rates of individuals with and without disabilities.
Equity and Education
There are many reasons someone may be unable to access quality education. Although we live in a world where individuals with high education levels are more likely to be successful in the workforce, disability is a large barrier to employment and education.
It is assumed that good education = good job. But What happens when you face barriers to education. Prior to even entering the work force?
Disability and Post Secondary Education
In the year 2012 3,775,910 adults in Canada Lived with disabilities
Only 42% of the had " some" post secondary education
One in every 6 are not able to meet their basic needs due to living in poverty.
What are the barriers to education for individuals with disabilities?
If you need a quality education for a quality job, what happens when education is inaccessible?
Accommodations
There reamins to be common myths and misconceptions in regards to individuals with disabilties that are barriers to individuals with disabilities face when attempting to access education. As an individual with a disabiltiy these are two common ones I have heard or seen.
Common Myths and Misconception
British Colombia and Yukon Press Books
An accommodation is synonymous with cheating because it provides an unfair advantage.
Myth:
Why is this not true
Students with disabilities often begin their postsecondary studies at an unfair disadvantage. The purpose of accommodations is to support students in demonstrating their knowledge and skills, and that they do so at a place that does not begin behind students without disabilities.
Accommodated students must be judged more harshly on assessments because the accommodation has made the assessment easier to complete.
Myth:
Why is this not true
The purpose of accommodations is to ensure equitable opportunities to learn without compromising academic standards. Accommodations do not make assessments easier to complete; rather accommodations make assessments possible to complete. The most important point is that accommodations must be reasonable within the standards of the program or course and suitable to the student’s needs (Dickson, 2012).
Self-advocacy
Students who are more likely to advocate for themselves and their needs are more likely to receive the accommodations that they need in their post-secondary education.
Supports
Having proper supports is key, if a student does not have access to what they need, then how can they be expected to make it through their education.
Half (50.2%) of all post-secondary students with disabilities report that their choice of courses or careers was influenced by the presence of their long-term health condition or health problem.
This rate was considerably lower among university students.
Almost two out of five (37.1%) took longer to achieve their present level of education with the percentage somewhat higher among postsecondary (university) students. This potentially has a negative impact on their economic status.
Gender and Poverty
When you look into gender and poverty, one of the first things that you see is the gendered nature of poverty. Two of the largest highlighted issues are
Women led single parent families
Gender wage gap
Single parent Families
There were 426,000 single-parent families in Canada living in poverty
41,000
Were male lead households
385,000
were female lead