New stats: StatCan releases first information about 2SLGBTQ+ people with disabilities

For the first time, Statistics Canada has released information about 2SLGBTQ+ persons with disabilities through the Canadian Survey on Disability. In 2022, the survey began to include questions about sex at birth, gender and sexual orientation. It found that 8.7% of the nearly 8 million Canadians over 14 years old reported being a 2SLGBTQ+ person.They were much younger than their disabled non-2SLGBTQ+ counterparts. The median age was 29, with almost two-thirds being between 15 and 34 years old. The median age for non-2SLGBTQ+ persons with disabilities was 56, and their largest group is 65 years and older, with those 15 to 34 only making up 17.8%. That may be because older people are less likely to report being 2SLGBTQ+, Statistics Canada said, as they have lived in a society that’s less accepting of sexual and gender diversity than today’s.Read: Nova Scotia has adopted the CLHIA’s disability form—will other provinces follow?The most common type of disability was mental health-related ones, at 69.9%. “Minority stress, that is, chronic stress related to social stigma, discrimination and the internalization of negative societal attitudes, is a common explanation for poorer mental health outcomes among the 2SLGBTQ+ population,” the report said. 2SLGBTQ+ persons are also more likely to be harassed and assaulted than cisgender, heterosexual people.The next most common disabilities were pain-related (48.9%), learning disabilities (36.8%), seeing disabilities (26.3%) and flexibility disabilities (21.4%).Nearly one-third—28.8%—had one disability, 41.8% had two or three disability types and 29.4% had four or more. In terms of severity, 37.8% had a “more severe” disability and 62.2% had a milder disability.Read: Disability and poverty: funding and structure of new federal benefit unacceptableMore than three-quarters said they had experienced at least one barrier to accessibility within the past year. 2SLGBTQ+ persons with disabilities were more likely to experience barriers to communication (61%) and barriers related to the behaviours, misconceptions or assumptions of others (57.6%) than non-2SLGBTQ+ persons with disabilities. Those under 35 were also more likely to experience a barrier related to public spaces than their non-2SLGBTQ+ counterparts. Of 2SLGBTQ+ persons with disabilities aged 25 to 64, they were more likely than non-2SLGBTQ+ persons with disabilities to have a bachelor’s degree or higher (32.5%) and less likely to have a post-secondary certificate or diploma below a bachelor’s degree (33.3%). They had a similar employment rate as those with disabilities who weren’t 2SLGBTQ+, with the employment rate for both being around two-thirds.Read: Nova Scotia has adopted the CLHIA’s disability form—will other provinces follow?

New stats: StatCan releases first information about 2SLGBTQ+ people with disabilities

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