National Parks & Recreation Conference & Trade Show

1. National Parks & Recreation Conference & Trade Show ‘Healthy Communities-Cultivating the Vision’ Saskatoon Sask. October 18-21, 2006

2. Getting Services Right for People with Disabilities:Demographics and Service Delivery Expectations

3. Elvin Dobani

4. Overview • Introduction • Toronto’s disability community • Methodology • Key findings • Recommendations / accomplishments • Conclusions, next steps and resources

5. Introduction • Support • Funding • Collaboration

6. Purpose and Objectives • Comprehensive demographic profile • Barriers to participation • Program and service improvements

7. Definitions • Adapted Programs • Integrated Services

8. Purpose and Objectives • Who in our community has a disability? • What can Parks, Forestry & Recreation do to improve the delivery of services?

9. Benefit of Participation of Physical Activity • Physiological • Physical • Psychosocial

10. Overview of Toronto’s Disability Community • Disability defined • Participation and Activity Limitation Survey • Canadian Community Health Survey

12. Overview of Toronto’s Disability Community • Participation in registered recreation programs • 6.4% of general population • 0.4% of disability population • Our Common Grounds disability target • Achieving identical participation rates for both populations

13. Overview of Toronto’s Disability Community • Disability types served • Perceived barriers to participation

14. Active2010 The Active2010 Ontario government sport and physical activity strategy states that, the ultimate benefit of creating more recreational opportunities for people will be: • “A culture of physical activity and sport participation that directly contributes to healthier Ontarians, stronger communities, and reduced healthcare costs… It’s successes will reduce the incidence of chronic diseases associated with inactivity and ultimately ease health care costs.”

15. Methodology • Focus groups • Survey of residents with a disability • Survey of disability service agencies

16. Focus Groups • 14 sessions • 150 participants • Recruitment • Accommodations offered

17. Residents Survey • 24 questions • 5,000 residents surveyed through 27 agencies • 1,200 surveys out to existing participants • 667 responses – 13% response rate

18. Agencies Survey • 7 questions • 56 agencies surveyed, from pool of 200 • 51 responses – 90% response rate

19. Demographics Participation in adapted programs & integrated services Importance & meaning of recreation Barriers to participation in recreation Use of parks, trails & natural areas Program & service improvements Communication Recreational respite Employment & recruitment Youth outreach workers Cultural & social issues Policy improvements Key Findings – Residents

40. Employment and Recruitment • Advertising • Coaching • Job search training

41. Youth Outreach Workers • Connecting outreach workers and youth • Services provided

42. Cultural and Social Concerns • Change rooms and washrooms • Gender-specific programming • Gender of support workers

43. Policy Improvements • Registration and subsidies • Program planning and review • Photo I.D.

44. Key Findings – Disability Service Agencies • Client demographics • Primary function • Recreation opportunities and supports • Recreation challenges • Multilingual services • Cultural and social concerns