The importance of caregivers as a resource to the people they care about and within our health care system is clear. Some of the needs of caregivers to individuals living with episodic disabilities are very similar to those who care for the elderly. As such, this group of individuals needs access to information, emotional support and practical resources in their communities in order to sustain their capacities and maintain the quality of family / friend care. But there are unique characteristics that must be considered when setting policy and practice in order to be inclusive of all family caregivers.
Individuals living with episodic disability and their caregivers have remained largely invisible and absent from current policy developments despite evidence that more than 1 million Canadians have an episodic health condition.
The Episodic Caregiver Support Initiative (ECSI) was launched in the fall of 2013 as a yearlong developmental grant by the Ontario Trillium Foundation to explore the needs of family/friend caregivers of individuals with episodic disability in Ontario. The ECSI activities began with understanding the needs of those caregivers who support individuals with an episodic disability, which involved an Episodic Caregivers Support Initiative Literature Review , a survey of caregivers and persons with episodic disabilities, an Episodic Caregivers Support Initiative Environmental Scan Inventory and an accompanying commentary to the scan, as well as in-person focus groups in order to get a deeper understanding of the challenges that are unique to this subset of family/friend caregivers.
Realize (formerly CWGHR) led the Initiative in partnership with the Centre for Families, Work & Well-Being at the University of Guelph; the Ontario Home Care Association; the Ontario Episodic Disability Network; and, Health Gateway.
The goal of the grant was to develop a preliminary model/framework that responds to the support needs of caregivers of people living with episodic disabilities in Ontario with the intent to encourage policy makers to consider and implement the next steps to improve caregiving in the province.
The report provides an overview of the work and the lessons learned by the project partners.
Read the Episodic Caregiver Support Initiative Executive Summary .
Read the Episodic Caregiver Support Initiative – Final Report .
Caregiving Resources

IDEAL Community Consultations
Intersectionality, episodic disability and access to health services, community supports and employment in Canada
Throughout 2023, Realize worked with twelve national organizations serving people living with episodic disabilities to lead focused consultations within their respective communities. The focus was an intersectional examination into the living realities and various aspects of access barriers to health services, community-based organizations and employment for people living with episodic disabilities in the Canadian landscape. The participating organizations serve communities that provided unique intersectional considerations of gender, racial identity, faith community, health conditions, sexual identity, and age with disability.
(Partner organizations involved: Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention, Ase Community Foundation for Black Canadians with Disabilities, Asian Community AIDS Services, Canadian Multicultural Disability Centre Inc., CanAge, Communities, Alliances, And Networks, DisAbled Women’s Network of Canada Disability Empowerment Equity Network Support Services, Live Educate Transform Society, National Educational Association of Disabled Students, Pride at Work Canada, and YouthCO.)
The objectives of this initiative were:
- To address the deficit of research on living with episodic disabilities through a disability-justice lens, led by people living with disabilities.
- To examine the realities that diverse disability communities are navigating.
- To better understand diversity in disability culture among subgroups such as youth, Muslims, 2SLGBTQIA+ folks and others.
- To broaden perspectives on people living with episodic disabilities and work.
- To examine access to and experience of health services and/or community-based organizations by diverse community members who are living with episodic disabilities.
- To increase the capacity of employers to respond effectively to the challenges facing people living with episodic disabilities and provide appropriate accommodations.
This Executive Summary includes key findings, a summary of insights, and links to each of the 12 partner reports.
Workplaces REVAMPED Final Report
This is the final report of the Realize project titled ‘REVAMPED’, Workplaces REcognizing the VAlue of eMPloyees with Episodic Disabilities funded by the Opportunities Fund of Employment and Social Development Canada.
The REVAMPED Project Objectives were targeted:
1. To increase awareness of episodic disabilities among employers;
2. To increase the understanding of employers of the challenges related to working and
living with episodic disabilities;
3. To increase the capacity of employers to respond effectively to the challenges facing
people living with episodic disabilities;
4. To increase access to information and networking opportunities for small, medium and
large employers on leading practices in accommodating employees living with episodic
disabilities in the workplace; and
5. To increase the capacity of people living with episodic disabilities to communicate
effectively about their lived experience.
Episodic Caregiver Support Initiative – Final Report
Research Report (Full Report): This report explores the needs of family / friend caregivers of individuals with episodic disability in Ontario. Author: Episodic Caregiver Support Initiative.