How do persons with disabilities spend their time? - Video transcript
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In recognition of International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Statistics Canada is releasing two products. The first product is a fact sheet "Time Use among Persons with Disabilities in Canada" which examines how persons with disabilities spend their days on selected activities. Analysis of time use opens a window into the experiences of persons with disabilities, particularly their perceptions of time. Persons with disabilities were more likely to have more negative perceptions of time, including higher levels of stress. Data for this analysis come from the General Social Survey on Time Use, 2015, which included the Disability Screening Questions (DSQ) (Reference 1).
The second product is an infographic "Measuring Disability in Canada" released by the Centre for Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Statistics. This infographic provides brief, easily understood information about concepts and terms used within the analysis of disability data.
Time spent on unpaid and paid work activities echo findings for the overall population
Previous research using the 2015 GSS Time Use data found that women spent more time on unpaid work activities while men spent more time on paid work activities (Reference 2). Findings for persons with disabilities show similar trends. Among those who reported performing unpaid work, women with disabilities spent more time per day than men with disabilities doing these activities (4.0 vs. 3.1 hours). Unpaid work activities include performing household chores or maintenance, caring for children or other adults, and shopping for goods or services. In contrast, among those who reported performing paid work, men with disabilities spent more time engaged in paid work on the diary day (7.9 hours) compared to women with disabilities (7.3 hours); this aligns with results from the Canadian Survey on Disability (Reference 3).
Among both men and women who engaged in unpaid work activities, the average amount of time spent on these activities did not differ significantly by disability status. Similarly, among men and women who engaged in paid work activities, the average amount of time spent on these activities did not differ significantly by disability status. This suggests that gender likely plays a greater role than disability in determining time spent on paid and unpaid work.
Persons with disabilities require more time for personal activities than persons without disabilities
Personal activities—including sleeping, personal care, and eating or drinking—are required to maintain overall well-being. Persons with disabilities spent on average 11.1 hours on the diary day on these activities, compared to 10.7 hours for persons without disabilities. Furthermore, women with disabilities spent more time on personal activities than women without disabilities (11.2 vs 11.0 hours) and men with disabilities spent more time on these activities than men without disabilities (10.8 vs. 10.5 hours). These findings support previous research which indicated that the additional time required for personal activities can be a burden on persons with disabilities (Reference 4).
Persons with disabilities report feeling more stress than persons without disabilities
While differences in time spent on various activities between persons with and without disabilities were generally small, persons with disabilities were more likely to report negative perceptions of time. Nearly one-quarter of persons with disabilities (23.4%) reported a high level of stress, compared to 11.9% of persons without disabilities. Additionally, persons with disabilities were more likely than those without disabilities to report feeling that they are constantly under stress as they try to accomplish more than they can handle (45.1% vs. 29.4%), trapped in their daily routine (42.5% vs. 28.9%), that they have no time for fun (34.4% vs. 22.7%), and that they do not accomplish what they set out to do in a day (51.8% vs. 36.5%).
Women were more likely than men, regardless of disability status, to report negative perceptions of time, which aligns with previous research (Reference 5). However, disability also plays a role in these perceptions as in many instances men and women with disabilities were more likely than men and women without disabilities to report negative perceptions of time. For example, women with disabilities were more likely than women without disabilities to report feeling that they are constantly under stress (48.4% vs. 31.0%), as were men with disabilities as compared to men without disabilities (41.0% vs. 27.8%).
Looking ahead
Time Use Survey (TUS) - 2022 is currently in collection. The 2022 TUS will enable analysis of time use by disability type and severity, provided that there is adequate sample size, as the long version of the DSQ has been included within the questionnaire.
References
Reference 1: A New Survey Measure of Disability: the Disability Screening Questions (DSQ)
Reference 3: A demographic, employment and income profile of Canadians with disabilities aged 15 years and over, 2017
Reference 4: Measuring integration of disabled persons: Evidence from Canada's time use databases
Reference 5: A demographic, employment and income profile of Canadians with disabilities aged 15 years and over, 2017
Note to readers
The results of this study are taken from Cycle 29 (2015) of the General Social Survey (GSS) on Time Use. A 24-hour diary was used to retrospectively collect all the activities a respondent did on a designated day starting at 4:00 a.m. and ending at 4:00 a.m. the next day. All activities lasting at least 10 minutes were recorded.
Products
The fact sheet "Time Use among Persons with Disabilities in Canada", which is part of the publication Reports on Disability and Accessibility in Canada (89-654-X), is now available.
The infographic "Measuring disability in Canada", which is part of Statistics Canada – Infographics (11-627-M), is now available.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).
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