TORONTO - About six in 10 Canadians living with disabilities are using assistive devices such as respiratory and hearing aids to help them in daily activities, but the cost continues to be a factor in helping all of them meet their needs, according to a new report.
The latest data released from the Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS) finds that the cost of purchasing or maintaining assistive devices is the most frequently cited reason for needs that are not met, accounting for 56.1 per cent of all unmet needs for assistive devices used by adults.
Some 9.2 per cent of all needs that are not met stemmed from not knowing where to get the needed assistive device.
Specialized equipment and aids include those that allow people with disabilities to participate in daily activities, including wheelchairs, reading materials in Braille and communication keyboards.
The survey looked at seven disability types for which aids are available among adults and children: hearing, seeing, communication, mobility, agility, pain and learning.
People with a pain limitation, such as recurrent back pain, represented the highest percentage among disability types who cited cost as the most common reason for unmet needs at 70.3 per cent, compared to a low of 38 per cent for those with seeing limitations.
"The most common assistive device for people with pain limitations is hot or cold aids but, as well, we do find a lot of people with pain limitations using medication to control the pain, which, if they have to continue buying this pain medication on a recurring basis, can get quite expensive very quickly,'' said Statistics Canada analyst Andrew MacKenzie in an interview from Ottawa on Tuesday.
Data from the survey found that more than three-quarters, or 75.9 per cent, of people living with mild disabilities had all of their needs met compared to less than half of people with very severe disabilities reporting they had all the needed assistive technology.
MacKenzie said it's likely those with more severe disabilities are facing challenges having all of their needs met because of the degree of assistance required.
"People with the milder disabilities, they had typically one or two needs for assistive technologies where people with the more severe disabilities could have three, four, sometimes up to five different needs,'' he said.
"It's easier for a person to obtain one or two pieces of assistive technology then to be able to obtain the four, five or more types of assistive technology that they need.''
More than 4.2 million people aged 15 and over are living with some form of disability, and roughly 63 per cent of that total use or need technical aids or specialized equipment to help them perform one or more daily activities, according to Statistics Canada.
