Drawing hidden figures of disability: youth and adults with disabilities in Canada

Abstract

Background: While governments draw on survey data to inform policy choices, the design, application, and interpretation of surveys can generate certain images of disability and ignore many others. Aims and objectives: This article draws attention to social circumstances of people with disabilities often unacknowledged in research evidence: hidden figures of disability. Methods: Selected results from the Canadian Survey on Disability are examined with a focus on working-age youth and adults (aged 15 to 64) with a range of disabilities. Findings: Five figures of disability and corresponding conceptual models are identified. These hidden figures of disability are the uncounted, those with needs unsupported, youth in multiple transitions, potential workers, and what may be called 'the fearful'. Several models of disability are identified intersecting with the evidence. These are the absent citizen, biomedical model and charitable model, social and economic integration model, human rights and full citizenship, and psycho-emotional model of affective disablism and ableism. Discussion: Hidden figures of disability are more than statistical tests and texts;more than calculations derived from quantitative research where people become a data point.The function of drawing hidden figures is to disclose and describe the bodily experiences of people with disabilities in their social positions and structural contexts. Conclusion: We need to see the production of evidence for policy not as painting a portrait but as portraits in the plural, and appreciate not only what is in the frame but also what faces and forms of knowledge get glossed over or brushed aside.