Overall
By Age
By Sex
By Type
By Severity
By Employment
Overall
The Canadian Survey on Disability (CSD) is the main source of data describing persons with disabilities in Canada, sampled from persons who describe disability or activity limitations in the Canadian Census.
According to data from the 2017 Canadian Survey on Disability, more than 1 in 4 residents of Simcoe County (27% or 125,000 residents) aged 15 years and over lived with one or more disabilities that limited them in their daily activities. In comparison, 29.9% (or 32,300 residents) of City of Barrie residents and 24.1% (or 2,616,170 residents) of Ontario residents reported at least one disability that limited their daily activities.
By Age
More than 1 in 5 Simcoe County residents between the ages of 15 and 64 reported living with at least one disability while nearly half of those aged 65 years and over reported living with one or more disability.
By Sex
Among Ontario residents, females were more likely than males to report living with a disability that limited them in their daily activities. Among Simcoe County residents, there was no significant difference between males and females.
By Disability Type
Among the 109,000 residents in the County of Simcoe with disabilities, the most common were pain-related (61%), flexibility (45%), and mobility (44%) -related disabilities. A resident may report having more than one type of disability.
By Severity
Approximately 4 in 10 (41%) Simcoe County residents aged 15 years or over living with disabilities have a severe or very severe disability. This is similar to the 45% of Ontario residents with disabilities who report severe or very severe disabilities.
The severity of a disability is rated by the frequency that a person’s daily activities are being limited (i.e. activities “rarely”, “sometimes”, “often”, or “always” limited) and the intensity of difficulties (i.e. “no difficulty”, “some difficulty”, “a lot of difficulty”, “cannot do”). Those with a higher severity score are those that reported more frequent activity limitations and a greater intensity of difficulties. For a person with more than one disability type, the severity score was averaged among each disability type.
By Employment
In the County of Simcoe, the presence of a disability did not preclude adults from working. 71% of Simcoe County residents aged 25 to 64 years living with a disability were employed compared to 81% of residents without a disability.
Statistics Canada reports that as the level of disability severity increases, the likelihood of being employed decreases. Those with more severe disabilities often have a lower personal income even when employed full-time and year-round, and have a greater likelihood of living in poverty regardless of age.
Employment has important implications for economic security for individuals and their families as well as supporting feelings of inclusion in society (Statistics Canada, 2018). Article 27 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) calls for recognition of “the right of persons with disabilities to work, on an equal basis with others”, by providing a work environment that is “inclusive and accessible to persons with disabilities” (Statistics Canada, 2018). The Canadian Survey on Disability looks at employment rates for working age individuals with disabilities and the potential size of the labour force in an inclusive, accessible, and accommodating labour market.
For more information on Canadians living with disabilities, please see Statistics Canada’s articles “Canadian Survey on Disability, 2017” and "A demographic, employment and income profile of Canadians with disabilities aged 15 years and over, 2017".
Technical Note
Local data from the Canadian Survey on Disability is only available for the County of Simcoe and the City of Barrie. Data could not be reported for the District of Muskoka or other Census subdivisions as this data was suppressed due to small numbers.
Page Last Modified: February 5, 2020.