Health & Activity Limitation Survey, 1986 [Canada]: Adults in Institutions

The Health and Activity Limitation Survey (HALS) was conducted by Statistics Canada, in response to Recommendation 113 of OBSTACLES, the report from the Special Parliamentary Committee on the Disabled and the Handicapped. The survey - its content and format - was developed through extensive consultation with all levels of government in Canada, associations of and for disabled persons, and disabled persons themselves. The objectives of HALS were: to extend coverage of the survey to include disabled persons residing in the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, on Indian reserves and in institutions; to interview a sufficient number of disabled persons to enable the release of data for subprovincial (such as large municipalities and groups of small municipalities) as well as data on disabilities with a low prevalence (such as Alzheimer's disease); and to extend the definition of disability to include individuals whose disability was due solely to the presence of a psychiatric condition.