Why to study participation of people with disabilities?

As you will read in the main study text of this chapter, it is not easy to define what participation is. One of the reason may be that every person, regardless if disabled or able bodied has personal preferences in activities he/she enjoys to do or feels are important to do and people vary also in the amount of time they dedicate to certain activities. In spite of the lack of clear definition, people with disabilities are aknoweged to lack the resources (physical, financial, etc.) and possibilities (physical barriers in the environment, negative attitudes of the public or professionals) to participate fully in the majority society.

Discuss with your colleague about next topic

Have a look at these short videos and discuss with your colleagues what areas of participation in society they cover. Are these areas of life important to you? Are people with disabilities involved in these areas of life in your country?

Professor Allen W. Heinemann with his team developed one of the tools used for measuring participation in people with disabilities. Unlike other tools for participation measurement, this one is based on the real activities and feelings of people with different types of disabilities in the United States. It is called Community Participation Indicators and covers three major areas of life and also feelings and attitudes of people with disabilities concerning their role in their communities. Open the PDF document below and study the questionnaire. Are the areas covered relevant to you? Are you participating in these areas of life? Could such a measurement be of any use in the Czech environment or in your home country?