Demographic Profile

The definition of a person with a disability is someone who considers themselves limited in the amount and kind of activity they can do in everyday life. Not all disabilities are visible to others and cover a wide range of conditions. Advances in technology enable them to do a wider variety of jobs and technology assisted learning makes education available to many more people with disabilities.

Canada's Employment Equity Act uses the Canadian Human Rights Commission definition of "Persons with disabilities"
It defines them as  persons who have a long-term or recurring physical, mental, sensory, psychiatric or learning impairment and who consider themselves to be disadvantaged in employment by reason of that impairment, or believe that an employer or potential employer is likely to consider them to be disadvantaged in employment by reason of that impairment, and includes persons whose functional limitations owing to their impairment have been accommodated in their current job or workplace. 

Currently more than 80,000 people in Calgary report having activity limitations. Only 53.5% of people with disabilities are in the workforce, versus 75% of other Calgarians.  Three most common types of disabilities reported are related to mobility, agility and pain. 

Employers are often concerned with how a person with a disability will do a job and the cost of accommodation. It is legal and appropriate to ask someone with a disability how they will perform a job and what kind of accommodation they need. The cost of accommodation can vary but typically is less than $500.