The Project

Goals and Objectives

After five years our CURA will have achieved the following goals and objectives:

• Consolidation of a dedicated group of researchers, community organizations and policy makers working together to enhance disability policy and overcome gaps in existing policy across the country;


• Durable links between researchers, consumer organizations, and policy makers at all levels of government;


• A powerful multi-disability coalition of consumer organizations supported by sound evidence;


• Detailed policy scans on major areas of concern in disability policy;


• A cadre of research trainees approaching careers dedicated to disability policy from a variety of disciplines, including law, political science, health services, geography, epidemiology;


• A plan for sustainability beyond the five years of the SSHRC grant, continuing to seek optimal integration for people with disabilities in Canadian society.

Our approach differs from other existing disability studies enterprises in that:

• It is not philosophically monolithic; it embraces a broad range of approaches to questions of equity and entitlement (social vs. biomedical, human rights vs. collectivist, corrective vs. distributive justice, minority vs. universalist).


• It is not specific to a particular disability group, but rather embraces a broad spectrum of disability considerations (physical, intellectual and sensory).


• It does not focus on a single disability issue, but attempts to look across the spectrum of disability policy to reconcile approaches to different areas of policy.