- Learner's lack of confidence — by far the most significant barrier
with more than 90% of the respondents indicating that this is at least
sometimes a barrier. However, 64% of the disability organizations while only
37% of the literacy organizations felt that this is frequently a barrier.
- Personal financial barriers — nearly 50% of respondents indicated that this is frequently a
barrier; and
The third most significant barrier related specifically to students with disabilities:
- Health / Medical issues — nearly 40% of respondents indicated that this is frequently a
barrier.
The program–related barrier which received the highest ranking by both
types of organizations was that of instructors and tutors being unable to
respond to the special needs of students with disabilities. It is not surprising
then that the need for training specific to working with students with disabilities
for instructors and tutors was also ranked as the most important opportunity for service improvement.
While the surveys were in general inconclusive because
of the small sampling, it is clear that the two types of organizations
obviously have differing views of barriers affecting learners with disabilities.
For example, the disability organizations expressed a far greater concern
with barriers related to the literacy programs than the literacy organizations.
The disability organizations also indicated a reasonably high level of
concern with the lack of assistive technology as a barrier while the literacy
organizations ranked this as quite low.
Based on the research carried out for this study, the most apparent
reasons for their differing views is because:
- Disability organizations are in the business of working with persons with disabilities as their
primary client while literacy organizations work with a multitude of different
students. Furthermore, they are often not aware if a student has a disability
if the student has not self disclosed.
- Disability organizations are knowledgeable about disability
issues while literacy organizations indicated throughout this study that
they require education and support in learning to work with students with disabilities.
- Lastly, unless students self identify and request various
supports, literacy service providers may not intuitively identify a need. Only 47% of
the literacy organizations indicated that they have a process for self identification.
Disability organizations however, would be in a position to identify
and offer supports in the absence of a client's request.
6.2 Other Findings
A recent study carried out by ABC Canada found that less than
10 per cent of Canadians who could benefit from literacy upgrading programs
actually enrol. So while outreach has increased significantly in the
past number of years, success has been minimal. The research indicates that
barriers like job or money problems, lack of childcare and transportation
are some of reasons preventing people from enrolling. When asked what concerns they
had about upgrading, participants in the research indicated the following: |