Inclusion and health: A study of the 2001 Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS)

This thesis presents findings of a quantitative study into the relationship between inclusive education settings and the parent-reported health of more than 140, 000 Canadian children with disabilities between 5 and 14 years of age. In framing the research questions and analysis of the data, the thesis includes a critical review of the concepts of disability, inclusive education and health. The main statistical data that were used were retrieved from the children's component of Statistics Canada's 2001 Children's Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS), a major post-censal survey of people with disabilities. PALS provides a wealth of information about children with disabilities in Canada. Responses to questions from PALS were selected to compile a framework to distinguish three levels of inclusiveness of educational settings: low, middle and high. Using the broad approach to health that guided the research and these three levels of educational inclusiveness, the analysis revealed that parents were more likely to report that their children with disabilities are in better general health, progress very well/well at school, interact very well/well with their peers, and frequently look forward to going to school in higher inclusive educational settings than in mid-range or lower inclusion settings. This positive trend was consistent, regardless of severity and type of disability.