There are two tables included in the DSQ data file package. The “updated” table is the one we intended to receive. The “first run” table has problems with it that are described in the Notes section below.
The activity limitations table provides counts of persons who experience difficulties doing certain activities. The data are taken from the Disability Screen Questions asked on the 2016 Census. Only difficulties or long-term conditions that have lasted or are expected to last for six months or more are considered. Activity limitations are reported according to the frequency with which they are experienced: always, often or sometimes.
Activity limitations are also disaggregated according to type of activity:
- seeing (even when wearing glasses or contact lenses)
- hearing (even when using a hearing aid)
- physical (e.g., walking, using stairs, using their hands or fingers or doing other physical activities)
- cognitive (e.g., learning, remembering or concentrating)
- mental health (emotional, psychological or other such conditions such as anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, substance abuse, anorexia, etc.)
- other
If a respondent experiences multiple types of activity limitations, then they are counted in both categories. This results in double-counting in the table and the sum of activity limitation types being greater than the total.
The table labeled "first-run" does not allow for the number of persons reporting a particular activity limitation to be calculated. The 'activity limitation type' dimension includes categories for those persons who indicated that they experienced more than one type of activity limitation, however the single activity limitation types do NOT include persons reporting two or more activity limitations. This means, for example, that if someone indicated they experienced difficulties or long-term conditions for both seeing and hearing, then they would not be included in either of those individual categories but instead be listed under the "combination of 2 activity limitation types" category.
Please note that the activity limitations data taken from the 2016 Census of Population questionnaire should be used with caution. The data are intended only to provide a sample frame for the postcensal Canadian Survey on Disability (CSD). Therefore, these data have not been edited nor certified and non-response has not been imputed. Furthermore, the wording and format of the question in the 2016 Census has changed significantly from the 2011 National Household Survey, consequently, the data are not historically comparable.
More information on the Disability Screening Questions can be found here.