Leisure for People with Disabilities in Rural Quebec
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
2.1. Young People with Disabilities, Family and Leisure in a Rural Setting
2.2. Adults with Disabilities and Leisure in a Rural Setting
3. Theoretical Framework
4. Materials and Methods
4.1. Data Collection Methods Used
4.2. Recruitment of Participants and Data Collection Methods
4.3. Sample and Subjects Discussed
4.4. Data Analysis
5. Results
5.1. Participant Profiles
5.2. Current Challenges and Issues Relating to the Recreational Offer for People with Disabilities
“Here, we have support, but we created a committee for paratransit in order to put pressure on the government so that paratransit receives more grants.”
“With underfunding, it is an issue because we do our best to offer activities and absorb most of the costs because we want them (people with disabilities) to have fun, diversified experiences, allow them to leave the house. And then we find ourselves stuck because financially, we cannot manage everything and pay the employees.”
“Distance and paratransit certainly complicate the organization of leisure and the offer of leisure services. Because whether we want it or not, the further we go, the higher the transportation costs. Whether it be for the people who help us, or for us when we have an outing … The costs are there, so at some point, it has an impact on what I can and can’t offer.”
“I lived in New Zealand several years ago and over there, I didn’t see that here at all, but people who have adapted vehicles, … at one point they got together and said, I have an adapted vehicle, I have another, and they got collective insurance together, and those people are ready to lend their vehicle. And then there’s like a bank of people who can volunteer to transport people with disabilities.”
“We go through this a lot. People who come from the ends of the territory, they have to leave at 6:30 in the morning and return at 5:00 in the evening. And our activities are offered from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. because these are the hours when people with disabilities can actively participate. What do we do before and after, we don’t have personnel, we don’t have employees to keep them busy between these two periods, so people with disabilities find themselves moving around and not having services.”
“When we put up the swings (adapted with sand all around), the person in charge of the construction told me that the parent will take the child in their arms and bring the child there (on the swing). Yeah, yeah, I can do that. I’ll take him in my arms to put him there. But when Grandma comes or even mum or even a dad who’s not as strong, I don’t know, they won’t take the child in the chair to bring him there, you know.”
“Now, whether it be for people with disabilities or for any other differences within the population, I think we still have ways to go, but more and more people accept differences, be it disabilities, religion, sexual orientation. As I said, there is still a way to go, but there is progress, and I think that we no longer see anyone laughing at people with disabilities.”
“The awareness we talked about earlier (among elected officials) is important. They are often older officials or officials who may have less experience in politics and administration, so we have to foster awareness.”
“We had to develop a working mechanism with a (local specialized) organization because I always wanted to make sure that the social workers of this organization were with us (to welcome young people with disabilities). Because I couldn’t put the entire workload on the students who work in the days camps. The workload is too much.”
“Of course, a lack of (specialized) human resources is problematic, and can be a reason to actually refuse a young person (with disabilities), because if we don’t have the possibility of having an additional (specialized) resource, it also becomes an obstacle for our leisure offer.”
“We started a programme called the navigator programme, because we realized that the clientele (with disabilities) very often become attached to an organization when they join and after, it is difficult to refer them to another place. (With this programme) we wanted to somehow undo these silos because individuals (with disabilities) will look to meet their needs in a specific place that is not necessarily the one that best meets their needs. So, our navigator programme has a worker who meets with association and community workers from different backgrounds to ensure that there is a real connection between them and that they are able to refer the individual with disabilities to the right environments and resources.”
“It’s obvious when you’re part of the municipal sector. We have an obligation to ensure that we offer services that correspond to the entire population. But financial resources being limited, if we take the day camp example again, sometimes children require individual support. Financially, I can’t offer an educator per child thirty-seven hours a week. We do not have the financial means to be able to offer this, but in conjunction with an organization in the region, in partnership, we can find solutions to meet these needs. The challenges at this level are really to know each other more, to understand each other better, to speak and to be well equipped to meet the needs all together.”
5.3. Effects and Benefits of Leisure for People with Disabilities
“Yes, recreation is important to them because I’d say it’s a big part of their lives. And it’s good for self-esteem, trust, just having a sense of belonging, breaking down isolation, it’s all super important.”
“We work a lot (on) leisure activities that develop mutual help. We rely heavily on the autonomy of each person, so that if the person gains confidence in his or her personal autonomy, there is a chance that they can act more easily in their environment, which encourages their self-empowerment.”
“Social participation becomes more and more important because now, they are adults and want to do like everyone else. I want to have an apartment, I want to have a job, I want a girlfriend, I want to have friends. They really want to be like everyone else, so going out to restaurants, going out … and not just with people with disabilities, (they want) to be among other people. Going to the cinema, but not with a flashy red sweater, because they want to go there as a person and not as a group, we see that a lot. "I want to do like everybody else" is really important.”
“There is a service gap; I think of XX (name of a person with a disability), who’s in a wheelchair. He is a natural leader, he said to himself, I’m going to take charge and start my own (sports) league; I’ll find money for wheelchairs and to initiate people. But at the primary school level, you have a social network with the school and medical sector that often accompanies you, or the special education teacher who accompanies you or gives you tricks, and we will sign up the child for skating to stimulate the child, who will pursue their academic journey. But once (the young person with disabilities) finishes secondary school, there is a really big service gap in terms of integration into employment versus leisure. Where is the 20-year-old with autism, who has difficulties, where does he or she fit into the recreational programme? Not all organizations can welcome a young person older than say, 20 years old.”
“With the example of the interaction activity that I set up … young people (with disabilities) were integrated into a mixed group (in a targeted sport). Well, after that, the coaches’ response was, well I didn’t think it would work so well, and it even helped break down barriers a little (between people with disabilities and neurotypical individuals).”
“The mother said to me, he takes care of his bag, he takes care of his things for the pool on his own, which he didn’t use to do, well, before he wasn’t on the team, but meaning that before, he didn’t pick up his things and take care of his things, and the training developed his autonomy because he is treated like the other swimmers.”
“It provides respite for natural families. Offering leisure to their children is a roundabout way of providing respite to the parents because no later than yesterday, a mother dropped off her teenager for an activity, and when she left, she said, ‘I’m on my way, my boyfriend is waiting for me for dinner, dinner just the two of us is going to be nice.’ For me, that speaks for itself.”
5.4. Knowledge of the Clientele Served and Training and Communication Needs
“You know, in rural areas, we also have the reality of children who have special needs in school but who are not (educated) in their environment. They (parents) send them to specialized schools, wherever the schools are located. And in the summer, they send them back to us (the municipal day camps), they come back to us with camp counsellors who are 16–18 years old at the most. First, we haven’t seen the children, we don’t know their needs. The children arrive, don’t have friends, are not integrated, and the counsellors don’t know them either. They (parents) send them to a specialized school with people who are trained and here, we have someone (counsellor) who is in secondary 4 with their first job.”
“It might be interesting (about distance learning tools). Of course, we are in a more remote area, farther away, because I know that there are meetings sometimes at the provincial level, but we do not necessarily participate because of a lack of time and resources. On the other hand, if they (those who developed these tools) moved around and organized days for awareness, discussions, exchanges, then I would say that the stakeholders in the territory here work together a lot. Last time they came, there were like 150 people who came to meet them. So then, it’s more interesting for stakeholders.”
“I think training has more to do with our needs. On a case-by-case basis. I would rather have a person in charge that I can contact and say, I have a young person who is going through this, how can we deal with it, how can we integrate the person? That way, I can really refer to a resource person who has the information.”
“There are certainly some events that make roundtables a little more difficult sometimes, but it’s still important because they are lively and you know, we have this opportunity to have an open partnership with all the stakeholders, be it the health network, education network, community organizations, and we can speak to one another and tell it like it is, which is very valuable, although sometimes we have small personal battles to overcome. But the fact remains that we can see each other, talk and work together and work on projects that will bring a lot to the region.”
6. Discussion and Conclusions
- “Acknowledging their connection and commonalties;
- Experiencing a sense of belonging;
- Respecting differences;
- Developing relationships;
- Sharing the responsibility for decision-making;
- Having a common purpose or shared vision ([42], p. 368).”
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- Increase the physical and geographical accessibility of spaces and leisure facilities for people with disabilities;
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- Increase the variety of leisure activities available to people with disabilities;
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- Adopt more flexible and adaptable transportation management and reservation modes;
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- Facilitate the hiring of specialized personnel for the supervision of individuals with disabilities during leisure activities, and jointly adopt human resources management mechanisms to retain them;
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- Develop and consolidate partnership agreements between sectors and stakeholders in health, education and the municipal, community and associative sectors so as to combine and coordinate efforts;
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- Develop a more meaningful leisure offer for young adults with disabilities;
- ❖
- Adapt training material on leisure for people with disabilities to the realities of stakeholders working in rural areas as much as possible.
Acknowledgments
Author Contributions
Conflicts of Interest
References
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1 | This article is based on several research studies designed to define the concept of leisure, and more specifically, based on studies by Pronovost [4], who defines leisure from an all-encompassing perspective as both a concept that refers to available time (excluding work and family obligations), and linked to specific activities that are practiced and characterized by particular meanings, as well as motivations (enjoyment, experience, etc.) ([4], pp. 11–12). |
2 | The term “paratransit” must be understood as a public or private transport service (bus, taxi, car, etc.) offered to people with disabilities that adapts and takes into account their disabilities. |
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Roult, R.; Carbonneau, H.; Belley-Ranger, É.; St-Onge, M.; Brunet, I.; Adjizian, J.-M. Leisure for People with Disabilities in Rural Quebec. Societies 2017, 7, 22. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc7030022
Roult R, Carbonneau H, Belley-Ranger É, St-Onge M, Brunet I, Adjizian J-M. Leisure for People with Disabilities in Rural Quebec. Societies. 2017; 7(3):22. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc7030022
Chicago/Turabian StyleRoult, Romain, Hélène Carbonneau, Émilie Belley-Ranger, Marc St-Onge, Isabelle Brunet, and Jean-Marc Adjizian. 2017. "Leisure for People with Disabilities in Rural Quebec" Societies 7, no. 3: 22. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc7030022