Better Living Through Mobility: The relationship between access to transportation, well-being and disability

摘要

Much work on making transportation accessible for people with disabilities has focused on adapting environments and infrastructure. Less work has been done on understanding the relationship between access to transportation, well-being and type of disability, particularly mental/cognitive disability. The objective of this paper is to provide a better understanding of this relationship. This is achieved through a statistical analysis of Statistics Canada’s 2006 Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS). The statistical analysis consists of descriptive methods and a factor and cluster statistical analysis. Results of the statistical analysis indicate that people with mental/cognitive disabilities are younger and have less income than people with sensory and physical disabilities. The statistical analysis also found that people with disabilities who have access to public transit have a higher sense of well-being. People who do not have access to public transit have a lower sense of well-being, and more so if they cannot afford personal transportation modes such as the car. This relationship between access to public transportation and well-being is more pronounced for people with mental/cognitive disabilities. The results of this research indicate that people with disabilities will have a greater quality of life if they live in areas that provide multiple transportation options. Built environments with enough density to support reliable and frequent transit options will ensure the greatest participation in society for people with disabilities. This is particularly true for people with mental/cognitive disabilities, who face an added barrier of having lower incomes and not being eligible for paratransit.