Instead, much of the country's legislation either does not specifically define disability or merely defines it in reference to a particular act. With little consensus on the definition of disability, governments and organizations have turned to operational definitions and classifications of disability.
Operational definitions of disability originated out of a need to define eligibility criteria for services, programs, membership, rights and resources, and the analysis of health related issues. Thus, they vary according to the services being rendered. This research focuses on definitions written into government documents, legislation, and programs. The Pension Plan Act, for example, defines when someone is considered to be a person with a disability and when they have ceased to be a person with a disability. It states "a person shall be considered to be disabled only if he is determined in a prescribed manner to have a severe and prolonged mental or physical disability."2 It goes on to say that "in no case shall a person be deemed to have become disabled earlier than fifteen months before the time of the making of any application."3 In this example, both the severity and the duration of a prescribed condition are subjective in nature.
In its attempts to enumerate the disability population, Statistics Canada
has turned to international definitions of disability put forward by the World Health
Organization (WHO). Surveys in the 1980s and 1990s followed the WHO's 1980
report, International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities, and Handicaps
(ICIDH), which defines disability as "... any restriction or lack of ability (resulting
from impairment) to perform an activity in the manner or within the range
considered normal for a human being."4 The most recent disability survey moved
to a definition based loosely on the WHO's newer ICF framework. The definition
provided in the survey report states that a disability is "an activity limitation or a
participation restriction associated with a physical or mental condition or a health
problem."5 The Canadian government, however, has not officially adopted the
ICF definition, and disability continues to be defined inconsistently. For example,
a recent government publication defined disability in language very close to the
ICIDH, calling it "a functional limitation or restriction of an individual's ability to
perform an activity."6
As of 2003, the Canadian population exceeded 32 million people.7 The
most recent Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS) found that 3.6
million Canadians, or 12.4% of the population, reported having a disability.8
2. Defining Disability: A Complex Issue (Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, Gatineau. 2003), 29-30.
3. Defining Disability: A Complex Issue.
4. World Health Organization, International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities, and Handicaps (ICIDH), http://www3.who.int/icf/icftemplate.cfm.
5. Human Resources Development Canada, Disability in Canada: A 2001 Profile, 2003, http:// www.hrsdc.gc.ca/asp/gateway.asp?hr=en/hip/odi/documents/PALS/PALS000.shtml&hs=pyp.
6. A Way with Words And Images.
7. CIA The World Factbook, http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ca.html.
8. Lucie Cosette and Edith Duclos, Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS).