A Qualitative Look at Serious Legal Problems for People with Disabilities in Central Canada

Appendix 2: Interview Guide

Introduction

DAWN Canada has been contracted by the Justice Department to carry out qualitative research examining the experiences of people with physical and mental disabilities with respect to their legal experiences. Specifically, we are looking to engage with people with disabilities who have encountered serious legal problems in the past three years.

Legal problems are problems that can be resolved through the legal system.

Serious legal problems are any legal issues you may have encountered that were hard to solve.

The questions here will help us explore three key aspects of legal issues:

Who should take part?

Individuals with lived experience

The following is required of individual participants:

Intake Questionnaire

  1. Have you experienced a serious legal problem in the past three years? Yes, No
  2. How do you identify?
    1. As a person with a physical disability
    2. As a person with a mental disability
    3. As a person with both a physical and mental disability
    4. Prefer not to say
  3. What is your age?
  4. Do you identify as a visible minority or racialized person such as Indigenous, First Nations, Inuit and Métis; Black or Afro-descendant; Asian; Hispanic, Latinx or of Central or Latin American origin; Middle Eastern or Arab; or mixed-race?
    1. Yes
    2. No
    3. Prefer not to say
    4. If yes, how do you identify?
  5. Do you consider yourself as a member of the LGBTQQIP2SA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, questioning, intersex, pansexual, two-spirit, asexual) communities?
    1. Yes
    2. No
    3. Prefer not to say
  6. How would you rate your knowledge of legal issues?
    1. Excellent
    2. Good
    3. I don't know a lot or I find legal issues confusing

Survey Questions

Part 1: Experience of legal problems in the last three years

Legal problems are problems that can be resolved through the legal system.

Serious legal problems are any legal issues you may have encountered that were hard to solve.

Examples of legal problems:

Questions:

  1. Have you experienced any of these legal problems (or others not listed) in the last three years?
  2. Can you explain, using as much detail as you are comfortable with, what this problem was (what were the issues, where did this happen, who was involved?).

Note: At this stage we are only identifying the problem, we will talk about how you dealt with it and about the impacts in the next sections.

Part 2: Seeking resolution

Now that we know what kinds of legal problems you have encountered we will shift to learning about how you either resolved these or tried to resolve them.

Examples of seeking resolution:


  1. Did you understand what you should do, or was the process unclear?
  2. How did you resolve your legal problem and who else was involved (in as much detail as you feel comfortable sharing)?
  3. What shaped the decisions you made about seeking resolution? Be as specific as you can, including whether money was a factor in your decision (being able to afford a lawyer), what advice you received and from whom you received it, whether you were concerned because your problem involved someone in a position of power, what the resolution process was like (formal, informal, did you go to court or mediation, and so on), your knowledge of the law, and whether you felt you would be believed.

Part 3: Impacts

Examples of impacts can include:

  1. In your own words, please discuss what the impacts of this legal issue were for you. Share as much as you feel comfortable sharing.

Summary

  1. Thinking about all we have talked about today, are there other things you think people who want to understand legal problems for people with disabilities should know?