-Easy to approach, enter, operate, participate in, or use safely, independently and with dignity by all (i.e., site, facility, work environment, service or program).
Accommodation
-A term used in the employment context to refer to modifications or adjustments employers make to a job application process, the work environment, the manner or circumstances under which the position held or desired is customarily performed, or that enable a covered entity's employee with a disability to enjoy equal benefits and privileges of employment; this term is sometimes used incorrectly to refer to related aids and services in the elementary and secondary school context or to refer to academic adjustments and auxiliary aids and services in the postsecondary school context.
Accountability
-The responsibility for implementing a process or procedure, for justifying decisions made, and for results or outcomes produced.
Activities of Daily Living
-The activities an individual needs to perform to live independently. These include bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring, continence and feeding.
Advisory Committees
-any committee, board, commission, council, conference, panel, task force, or other similar group, or any subcommittee or other subgroup thereof that is established by statute or reorganization plan, established or utilized by the government, or one or more agencies of the government, in the interest of obtaining advice or recommendations.
Advocate
-One who pleads another's cause or acts in support of an individual (see self-advocate).
Alternative Formats
-Information provided in more that one format, for example, large print, Braille, audio cassette, etc, in order to make the information usable and accessible to people with disabilities.
Affirmative Action
-A concept inherent in American social policy that outlines positive steps to enhance the diversity of some group, often to remedy the cumulative effect of subtle as well as gross expressions of prejudice. Not to be confused with the Canadian conception of Employment Equity (see below).
Assisted Housing
-a housing option that combines live-in staff assistance while encouraging independent living.
Assistive Technology
-Any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities.
B
Barriers
-Obstacles that prevent people with disabilities from fully participating in society.
Benefits
-Non-wage compensation provided to employees of five categories: Paid leave (vacations, holidays, sick leave); supplementary pay (premium pay for overtime and work on holidays and weekends, shift differentials, nonproduction bonuses); retirement (defined benefit and defined contribution plans); insurance (life insurance, health benefits, short-term disability, and long-term disability insurance), legally required benefits (Social Security and workers' compensation) and benefits programs.
Block Grant
-An intergovernmental transfer of Federal funds to provinces and local governments for broad purposes such as health, education or community development in general. A block grant holds few requirements for how the money is to be spent, offering provincial and local discretion within general guidelines defined by general conditions enacted by the federal government.
Brokerage
-An arrangement or negotiation of services on behalf of a client, and in full consultation with the client and/or their career. A broker deals with a variety of organizations and individuals to supply coordinated services for clients.
C
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
-The bill of rights which forms part of the Constitution of Canada repatriated in 1982. Its precursor, The Canadian Bill of Rights, 1960, introduced by the Diefenbaker government, applied only to Federal institutions and matters under the legislative authority of the Government of Canada. The Charter developed out of the United Nations human rights and freedoms movement as enunciated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Capacity-Building
-Increasing the ability and skills of individuals, groups, and organizations to plan, undertake, and manage initiatives. The approach also enhances the capacity of the individuals, groups, and organizations to deal with future issues or problems in order to help them to live independently with dignity.
Census
-The enumeration of an entire population, usually with details being recorded on residence, age, sex, occupation, ethnic group, marital status, birth history, and relationship to head of household.
Citizenship
-Citizenship involves three components: rights and responsibilities and access. Rights of belonging, of access to justice, to due process, of mutual recognition and approval of our distinctiveness, uniqueness and differences both as individuals and groups. Responsibilities to respect and care for each other; to commit to the well being of the community, to contribute to the health and vitality of our communities, to engage in creating a vital society. Access to the forums, institutions, associations and public spaces where citizens meet, discuss, share, work, contribute, play and socialize. Accessibility may necessitate adapted tools and specific laws to assure an equal participation to all citizens, whether belonging or not to a minority.
Community Capacity
-the ways and means in which things are done within communities. Capacity includes not only skills, people and plans, but also commitment, resources and all dimensions of a process to make it successful. Community capacity building is based on the premise that community sustainability can be improved over time. A community's capacity, or the lack of it, is reflected in the people, economy, environment, culture, attitude and appearance of that community.
Constitution
-The basic law or laws of a nation or a state which sets out how that state will be organized by deciding the powers and authorities of government between different political units, and by stating and the basic principles of society.
Consultation
-an active two-way process informing and involving individuals and groups to encourage the sharing of ideas, views and opinions. The central purpose of this democratic procedure is to define a common good emerging from the aggregation of multiple voices present in society.
Consumer
-a person who uses or consumes a good or service. In the context of the disability rights movement, the term has come to denote a person with a disability who makes use of disability-related products and services.
Cost-Benefit Analysis
-an analysis of alternative courses of action to ensure that the most cost-effective option is pursued within the context of budgetary and political considerations.
D
Devolution
-The transfer of authority for decision-making, finance, and management to local government. In a devolved system, local governments have clear and legally recognized geographical boundaries over which they exercise authority, and within which they perform public functions.
Direct Funding
-funding is allocated directly to individuals, or in the case of a child to their family, to meet their disability related needs. DF has two fundamental characteristics: The amount of funding is determined by direct reference to an individual's specific needs; and the individual and his or her personal network determine how funds are used to meet those needs.
Disability Adjusted Life Year (DALY)
-a quantitative indicator of burden of disease that reflects the total amount of healthy life lost, to all causes, whether from premature mortality or from some degree of disability during a period of time.
Disability Community
-individuals and organizations of and for people with disabilities in a given population who work together toward change at the local, national and societal levels.
Disability Discrimination
-Discrimination is the failure to treat people in the same way because of a bias toward some of them because of some characteristic - in this case disability - which is irrelevant to their suitability for something (e.g., to occupy housing or to perform a job).
-often referred to as 'ableism'.
Disability Lens
-an ongoing review of government decisions that take into consideration the concerns of people with disabilities, including children and their families.
Disability Rights Movement
-includes issues such as access to buildings, education, adaptive technologies enabling work, access to jobs and housing - the right to have an independent life as an adult sometimes using paid assistant care.
Disability Supports
-Any good, service or environmental adaptation that assists persons with disabilities to overcome socially imposed limitations to carrying out activities of daily living and in participating in the social, economic and cultural life of the community.
Disability Tax Credit
-provides tax relief to individuals who, due to the effects of a severe and prolonged mental or physical impairment, are markedly restricted in their ability to perform a basic activity of daily living as certified by a qualified medical practitioner, or would be markedly restricted were it not for extensive therapy to sustain a vital function. For 2004, the credit is 16 per cent of $6,486, which provides a federal tax reduction of up to $1,038. This credit can be transferred to a supporting spouse, parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, nephew or niece of the individual. The credit amount is fully indexed to inflation.
Diversity
-Variation between groups and individuals in the population.
Double-Disadvantage
-the phenomenon of experiencing more than one identity considered disadvantageous and prejudicing in society. For example, women with disabilities experience prejudice resulting from both their gender and disability.
E
Economic Development
-Efforts to increase employment opportunities by getting new businesses to relocate in a community or existing businesses to expand. Governments, cooperatives, non-profit organizations and social economy actors are also partners in economic development.
Electronic Consultation
-an active two-way process informing and involving individuals and groups to encourage the sharing of ideas, views and opinions through the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and multimedia communications. These can be synchronous [IRC] or asynchronous [email, forums].
Eligibility
-requirements that must be met for a person to be able to participate in a program, receive funds, or qualify for assistance.
Employment Equity
-fairness in employment. The purpose of an employment equity program is to ensure that individuals have access to any employment position desired and that their qualifications are assessed in relation to the requirements of the position.
Employment Supports
-refer to the range of services and aids required by persons with disabilities and employers in the workplace. The type of employment supports required by an individual is dependent on the type and severity of disability, the nature of the workplace environment, and employment duties of the position. Employment supports for an employee with disabilities may include altering the work schedule or restructuring the job, among other changes.
Entrepreneurship
-The process of starting and managing your own business; the skills of people who are willing to risk their time and money to run a business.
Equality
-difficult to define because it represents a continuum of concepts. In various contexts it can mean equality of opportunity, freedom from discrimination, equal treatment, equal benefit, equal status and equality of results.
F
Federalism
-a system of government in which powers and responsibilities are divided between a national government and provincial or state governments.
G
Government
-the system or form by which a community or other political unit is governed.
Government Departments
-a major organizational unit in government in which programs similar in nature are grouped together under the management of an appointed or elected official. One or more program budget units may be used to fund a department and account for its expenses.
H
Health and Activity Limitation Survey (HALS)
-Data collected on persons with disabilities in the 1991 Canadian census.
Health Promotion
-The process of enabling individuals to increase control over and improve their health. It involves the population as a whole in the context of their everyday lives, with prevention initiatives, rather than focusing on people at risk for specific diseases, and is directed toward action on the determinants or causes of health.
Home Care
-Community health and nursing services providing coordinated multiple service home care to the patient. It includes home-offered services provided by visiting nurses, home health agencies, hospitals, or organized community groups using professional staff for care delivery.
Horizontal Initiative
-A horizontal initiative is an initiative in which partners, from two or more organizations, have agreed under a formal funding agreement (e.g. Memorandum to Cabinet, Treasury Board Submission, federal/provincial agreement) to work towards the achievement of shared outcomes.
House of Commons
-the major lawmaking institution in Canada. In each of Canada's 308 ridings, the candidate who gets the most of votes is elected to the House of Commons as an MP. The MPs gather in the House of Commons to debate, discuss, and vote on government questions and issues. This institution permits social groups to assist and participate in public consultation where they can voice their opinions and advance their causes.
Human Capital
-Productive investments embodied in human persons. These include skills, abilities, ideals, and health resulting from expenditures on education, on-the-job training programs, and medical care.
I
Impairment
-an impairment is any loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological, or anatomical structure or function. It represents a deviation from the person's usual biomedical state. An impairment is thus any loss of function directly resulting from injury or disease.
Incentives
-an inducement to stimulate or spur-on activity e.g. making grants available for environmental awareness raising is an incentive to develop actions in this area.
Inclusion (Educational)
-the successful education of all students (whether with or without disabilities, disadvantages, etc.) together in the same schools and classrooms, while celebrating the resulting diversity, including various abilities and cultures.
Inclusion (Social)
-Work done to increase the participation of communities marginalized by lack of economic opportunity, educational achievement or other barriers.
Inclusive Society
-promotes human and social development by creating both the feeling of belonging and the reality of belonging.
Income Supports
-provide financial assistance to lower income groups and people with disabilities not in the workforce.
Independent Living
-premised on the idea that all people with disabilities have skills, determination, creativity and a passion for life, yet have difficulty participating as full citizens due to economic, political, and cultural barriers.
Independent Living Resource Centre
-support individuals to put the idea and philosophy of Independent living into action, governed and staffed by a majority of people who themselves have disabilities.
Individualized Funding
-see Direct Funding
Injury Prevention
-policies and funds aimed at removing the circumstances and causes of injury and disease.
Innovation
-Introduction of a new idea into the marketplace in the form of a new product or service, or an improvement in organization or process.
Insurance
-A contract that provides compensation for specific losses in exchange for a periodic payment. An individual contract is known as an insurance policy, and the periodic payment is known as an insurance premium.
International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF)
-A classification system created by the World Health Organization (WHO) to provide a unifying framework for classifying the consequences of disease.
International Year of Disabled Persons
-In 1976, the UN proclaimed that 1981 would be the year of the disabled person, calling for a program of action that would put emphasis on the equalization of opportunities, rehabilitation, and the prevention of disabilities.
J
Job Coach
-A person hired by the placement agency or provided through the employer to furnish specialized on-site training to assist an employee with a disability in learning and performing a job and adjusting to the work environment.
Jurisdiction
-The range of powers and/or territory over which a body may act.
K
Knowledge-Based Economy
-an economy which is increasingly based upon knowledge and information as the driver of productivity and economic growth, leading to a new focus on the role of information, technology and learning in economic performance.
L
Legislation
-Written and approved laws. Also known as "statutes" or "acts." In constitutional law, one would talk of the "power to legislate" or the "legislative arm of government" referring to the power of political bodies (eg: house of assembly, Congress, Parliament) to write the laws of the land.
M
Maternity/Parental Benefits
-paid to individuals who are pregnant, have recently given birth, are adopting a child or are caring for a new-born. These benefits can also be attributed to the husband caring for a child.
Maternity/Parental Benefits
-paid to individuals who are pregnant, have recently given birth, are adopting a child or are caring for a new-born. These benefits can also be attributed to the husband caring for a child.
Medical Expense Tax Credit
-provides tax relief to all individuals who have sustained significant medical expenses for themselves or certain of their dependants.
Mentoring
-provides opportunities for professional development, growth and support to less experienced individuals in career planning or employment settings. Individuals receive information, encouragement and advice as they plan their careers
-an educational process where the mentor serves as a role model, trusted counselor.
Minister
-a person appointed to a high office in the government.
N
Non-Profit
-may refer to an organization or the entire sector. Non-profit means not conducted or maintained for the purpose of making a profit. Instead, it operates to serve a public good. Any net earnings by a non-profit organization are used by the organization for the purposes of which it was established. As an entire sector, non-profits include hospitals, universities, trade organizations, voluntary associations and religious organizations.
O
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
-Thirty member countries sharing a commitment to democratic government and the market economy. Best known for its publications and its statistics, its work overs economic and social issues from macroeconomics, to trade, education, development and science and innovation.
P
Palliative Care
-concentrates on the quality of life of the individual and family. It focuses on controlling pain and other symptoms, and meeting a person's social, emotional and spiritual needs.
Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS)
-a survey funded by Human Resources Development Canada and conducted by Statistics Canada which provides essential information on the prevalence of various disabilities, the supports for persons with disabilities, their employment profile, their income and their participation in society.
- followed the groundwork laid by the Health and Activity Limitation Survey (HALS) (Survey #3251, version 1) which was conducted by Statistics Canada about persons with disabilities in 1986 and 1991.
Person-Centred Planning
-lifestyle planning that results in the understanding of the lifestyle desired by the person and how it may be achieved.
Portability
-the ability (or lack thereof) to receive supports and services in a variety of provincial and/or local jurisdictions.
Program Definitions
-describes the kinds of activities and the objectives that may be associated with a program or policy.
R
Reasonable Accommodation
-Modification or adjustment to a job application process that enables a qualified applicant with a disability to be considered for the position such qualified applicant desires.
-Modifications or adjustments to the work environment, or to the manner or circumstances under which the position held or desired is customarily performed, that enables qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of that position.
-Modifications or adjustments that enable a covered entity's employee with a disability to enjoy equal benefits and privileges of employment as are enjoyed by its other similarly situated employees without disabilities.
Recommendations
-Suggestions for specific actions or changes to a government program or policy based upon an analysis of the program components.
-do not carry the force of law.
Recruitment
-The process of obtaining a supply of qualified candidates eligible for employment.
Rehabilitation
-A process aimed at enabling persons with disabilities to regain and maintain their optimal physical, sensory, intellectual, psychiatric, and/or restore functions or compensate for the loss or absence of a function or for a functional impairment. The rehabilitation process does not involve initial medical care. It includes a wide range of measures and activities from more basic and general rehabilitation to goal-oriented activities, for instance vocation rehabilitation.
Respite
-Temporary care given to an individual for the purpose of providing a period of relief to the primary caregivers and which also provides relief to the person receiving the Services. Respite is used to decrease stress in the homes of persons with disabilities, thereby increasing both the caregivers' overall effectiveness and the overall well-being of the person.
S
Self-Advocate
-the ability to recognize the needs specific to one's disability, and to find and obtain specific ways to meet those needs.
Self-Employment
-A person who owns at least 25% of the entity for which generates income for that person. Can be a partner in a firm, sole proprietor, independent contractor etc.
Skills Development
-A process that helps an individual analyze and define their needs for employment training by identifying an individual's strengths and weaknesses. Training is used to strengthen weak areas so that employment requirements can be met.
Social Capital
-The value of social networks that people can draw on to solve common problems. The benefits of social capital flow from the trust, reciprocity, information, and cooperation associated with social networks. These can be family, professionals or leisure-related.
Social Development
-Encompasses a commitment to individual well-being and volunteerism, and the opportunity for citizens to determine their own needs and to influence decisions which affect them. Social development incorporates public concerns in developing social policy and economic initiatives.
Social Exclusion
-a multi-dimensional concept, involving economic, social, political, cultural, and special aspects of disadvantage and deprivation, often described as the process by which individuals and groups are wholly or partly excluded from participation in their society, as a consequence of low income and constricted access to employment, social benefits and services, and to various aspects of cultural and community life.
Social Movement
-a group of people with a common identity or ideology who try together to achieve certain general goals such as the recognition of existence, the politicization of certain problematic or social change.
Social Union
-different types of intergovernmental regimes in the social, environmental, health care sectors and for the infrastructure restoration.
Supportive Housing
-housing options that fill the wide gap between independent living in the community and dependent living in an institutional setting.
-Autonomy and security are considered two of the main principles behind the concept of supportive housing.
Stakeholder
-An individual or group with an interest in the success of an organization, be it government or business related, in delivering intended results and maintaining the viability of the organization's products and services. Stakeholders influence programs, products, and services.
Standing Committee
-The House of Commons delegates most of the detailed study of proposed legislation and the scrutiny of government policy and programmes to its committees. In delegating these responsibilities, the House of Commons establishes specific terms of reference for their work through Standing Orders or, from time to time, by Special Orders of the House.
-A permanent committee established in the Standing Orders of the House. It may study matters referred to it by standing or special order or, within its area of responsibility, undertake studies on its own initiative.
Statistics
-a branch of applied mathematics concerned with the collection and interpretation of quantitative data and the use of probability theory to estimate population parameters.
Sub-Committee
-The House of Commons delegates most of the detailed study of proposed legislation and the scrutiny of government policy and programmes to its committees. In delegating these responsibilities, the House of Commons establishes specific terms of reference for their work through Standing Orders or, from time to time, by Special Orders of the House.
-A committee of a committee, to which the latter may delegate its powers, except the power to report to the House. Not all committees are granted the power to establish subcommittees.
Supported Employment
-Supported employment programs afford those with severe mental illness the opportunity for employment in viable and valid work scenarios with supportive assistance on-site and as needed.
-an integral component of programming to afford better access for those with disabilities to significant and comprehensive work venues.
Survey
-a study conducted for statistical purposes to gain a more detailed understanding of a topic or area of study.
-a type of research methodology.
T
Training
-Instruction which emphasizes job-specific, near-transfer learning objectives; traditionally skills-based instruction, as opposed to education.
Transparency
-Evolving global standard for state institutions and international organizations, requiring open processes according to general rules subject to monitoring; regarded as basis of accountability, diminishing corruption. The general objective of transparency is to reduce governmental arbitrary decisions, to forecast their actions and to measure results concerning programmes and public policies.
-Principle adopted in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade that governments must make their rules, regulations, and practices open and accessible to the public and other governments.
Treaty
-A formal agreement between two states signed by official representatives of each state. A treaty may be "law-making" in that it is the declared intention of the signatories to make or amend their internal laws to give effect to the treaty.
Technical Advisory Committees
-The group that guides the study from the statement of work through the time the research products are implemented. Members may include representatives from each of the study partners or may include only part of that group with other experts.
Technical Advisory Committees
-The group that guides the study from the statement of work through the time the research products are implemented. Members may include representatives from each of the study partners or may include only part of that group with other experts.
V
Vocational Rehabilitation
-A program of services designed to enable people with disabilities to become or remain employed.
W
Working Group
-a group of people working together temporarily until some goal is achieved.
Workplace Accommodations
-a modification or adjustment to a job, the work environment, or the way in which a job is usually done that enables an individual with a disability who is otherwise qualified to perform a job, to attain the same level of performance and to enjoy the same benefits and privileges of employment.
