Symposium international sur l'expérience inclusive de loisir

1^st INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON INCLUSIVE LEISURE EXPERIENCES - October 22 and 23

PROFESSIONAL DAY OF THE QUEBEC OBSERVATORY OF LEISURE - October 24

Description for the symposium

For a long time, leisure interventions with persons with disabilities have been mainly anchored in a therapeutic approach aimed at reducing deficits or impairment, with leisure posited as a ‘tool’ to improve the functioning of individuals. In recent years, a shift has occurred to focus on strength-based approaches centered on inclusion in leisure, with an emphasis on optimizing people’s well-being, lifestyle and everyday experiences. The focus is both on empowering people with disabilities to actualize themselves through meaningful activities that correspond to their interests and strengths. Many leisure researchers are working to develop models to support an inclusive experience. Despite these efforts, inclusive models have been slow to take hold. Even today, the integration of people with disabilities is too often seen as a problem when it should be seen as a social choice. It is, therefore, important to come together to identify research, policies and practices to reduce barriers to participation and to maximize access to inclusive leisure experiences.

In that context, a group of researchers from Canada, the United States and France are organizing an international symposium that will bring together researchers and practitioners who share an interest in inclusive leisure for persons with disabilities. The proposed event is part of this growing concern about the urgency of supporting access by people with disabilities to inclusive leisure experiences in the same way as other citizens.

Description for the professional day of the Quebec observatory of leisure

The discourse of a right to leisure and access to public services is refined to include a less activity-based leisure design, but more on the participant's experience. These access constraints, whether physical, financial or cultural, are superimposed on the importance of providing quality in this experience, and challenge public decision makers to adopt a more complex view of accessibility issues.

It is in this perspective that our next professional day attempts to revisit, from another angle, the central issue of accessibility to leisure services, through the notion of inclusive experience, while taking into account new political, legal and cultural aspects of this accessibility.

More specifically, this professional day focuses on making concrete and operational this inclusive accessibility, in line with our realities in terms of human, financial and material resources, and with regard to the search for efficiency and effectiveness of public services.

The Observatory takes advantage of the organization of the International Symposium on the Inclusive Experience of Leisure - to which you are cordially invited to participate without necessarily being preliminary - to invite you to better understand the perspective of inclusive experience in leisure, to share experience in the field and open up to finding innovative solutions.

The theme of inclusive experience in leisure will attract, for this Symposium, more than 20 renowned researchers from Europe, Canada and the United States, which shows a great relevance. For you, this is a unique opportunity to be at the forefront of information and to share common ways to make recreation services more inclusive. The challenges are great so that each person has access not only to equipment, but also to experiences that allow them to develop their potential, and to have access to reciprocal and meaningful exchanges with others. Our Day promotes the dialogue between the actors of knowledge and those who are practitioners on a daily basis.

Our partners

The symposium is supported by many organizations and we want to thank them.