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By Kim Dority
 In 2004 there were 6.5 billion people in the world; 18.6 million (2.9%) were severely disabled, and another 79.7 million had moderate disabilities (see Note 1).
In the UK, 'one in six people ... (10.3 million) living in a private household reported having a limiting long-term illness (LLTI)' (see Note 2).
In the United States, it was estimated that, in 2005, roughly 54.4 million of the country's children and adults had some level of disability. This represents approximately 18.7% of the U.S. population (see NOte 3).
Some 4.4 million Canadians (or 14.3% of the population) reported having a disability in 2006, defined as limitations in everyday activities due to a physical or psychological condition or to a health condition (see Note 4).
And in 2003, an estimated 3,958,300 people, or 20% of the Australian population, had a disability, defined as 'any limitation, restriction, or impairment, which has lasted, or is likely to last, for at least six months and restricts everyday activities' (see Note 5).
And it only took me three hours to track down those five numbers.
Why so difficult? Let me count the ways....
Challenges to Finding Disability Statistics
Finding reliable disability statistics - especially reasonably current ones - can be a challenge even for those of us who work in the world of disability every day (I'm Vice President of Content and Strategy for Disaboom.com, an online resource for people with disabilities).
The term 'disability' is an extremely malleable concept. Every statistics-gathering organization defines disability in a way that may either expand or narrow who qualifies as a person with a disability. Does it entail any physical limitation or only ones that necessitate help with 'activities of daily living?' Are chronic illnesses such as multiple sclerosis that may need to be managed daily but do not necessarily preclude mobility included, or only ones that create functional constraints?
Multiple agencies track multiple aspects of disability. In larger or more developed countries, different governmental organisations focus on specific aspects of disability. For example, one department might gather unemployment statistics, another might focus on increases in the number of veterans returning with disabilities, while yet another might track how many people with disabilities (PWDs) live in group housing.
Disability is an aggregate term. The term 'disability' encompasses conditions like blindness, spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injuries, amputations, Down Syndrome, arthritis, deafness, Parkinson's disease, and a broad range of other conditions that limit one's daily ability to function. It's important to decide whether you're looking for statistics related to all disabilities or a specific disabling condition; if the latter, it's much less likely that a government agency is tracking the condition you're researching.
Tracking disability statistics has been infrequent and, in many cases, inconsistent. Most stats have come from decennial national censuses, which are unable to keep up with the substantial increases in the rates of disability the world is now experiencing through wars, an ageing population, and an increase in obesity among developed nations (which equates to substantial increases in disabilities such as amputation and blindness). In addition, many US programmes that had been tracking national disability statistics lost their funding during the Bush administration, so numbers that had been reported on a chronological basis now have an eight-year gap.
Inconsistency among reporting agencies in how they define their data. A great example of this is employment and/or unemployment among people with disabilities in the United States. Depending on which group's numbers you use, the unemployment rate may be 12.9% (US Bureau of Labor Statistics) or close to 45% (the US Census's Disability Status 2000 report says 55.8% of people with disabilities aged 16-64 are employed).
Approaching Disability
So, how to get started researching disability numbers? First, it helps to have a conceptual overview of disability, in order to clarify exactly what type of statistics you are looking for.
Depending on whose definition you're using, disability is 'a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities' (the Americans with Disabilities Act), which might include physical limitations (such as mobility constraints); sensory limitations due, for example, to vision or hearing loss; cognitive/intellectual impairments; and psychiatric disabilities. The disability may have been present at birth, contracted later through illness or injury, or the result of a chronic disease (for example, amputation as a result of diabetes).
Researchers may also look for 'predictors' of future disability trends (and statistics): rate and numbers of ageing; wars, level of healthcare (better healthcare means people with disabilities live longer) etc.
Within these parameters, you are most likely to be able to find statistics in the areas of employment, prevalence of condition (e.g. how many people are blind), housing (for example, number of people living in nursing homes), public assistance, income and education status.
Where to Start?
For global statistics, 'the usual suspects,' i.e. the United Nations and UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) are the best sources. As one would expect, the more advanced socially and economically a given country is, the more likely that country is to track the health and social well-being of its citizens with disabilities. For those countries that do not track these statistics themselves, however, the trans-national agencies are the best starting point.
Although the following list is by no means exhaustive, it's meant to present sample starting points for research at the trans-national level, and at the national level for several representative countries.
International Organisations
Eurostat
Statistical office of European Union, tracks data on topics including public health, environment, population and social conditions. Search 'disability' to see the available statistical reports.
Global Applied Disability Research and Information Network on Employment and Training (GLADNET)
Trans-national research on disability statistics and employment gathered from 'research centres, universities, enterprises, government departments, trade unions, and organisations of and for persons with disabilities'.
Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD): Directorate for Employment, Labour, and Social Affairs
Multiple sources of health and disability data; see especially the region-specific 'Sickness, Disability and Work' series.
UNICEF
No specific department tracks disability statistics; instead, search both disability and disabled, as well as specific impairments (e.g. deaf, blind), for research and reports.
United Nations Demographic Yearbook
See Demographic and Social Concerns > Health, Human Functioning, and Disability
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP)
See 'Disability at a Glance: a Profile of 28 Countries and Areas in Asia and the Pacific,'
The World Bank: Social Protection and Labor: Disability
From the site's homepage, click on 'Topics' > 'Social Protection & Labor' > 'Disability; see also the World Bank's report 'Disability and Inclusive Development in Latin America & the Caribbean'.
World Health Organization (WHO) Statistical Information System (WHOSIS)
Provides the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) as well as global and country-specific health and epidemiological statistics. The disability statistics gathering and tracking is the responsibility of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics.
In addition to the trans-national organisations noted above, most developed countries also have at least one government agency that gathers disability-related statistics, although frequency, breadth, and depth of this information varies by country.
Below are examples of some of the major statistical sources for a representative selection of developed countries.
Britain
Family Resource Survey
From the Department of Work and Pensions, annual report that gathers 'information on the incomes and circumstances of private households in the UK'.
National Disability Authority
Ireland's leading state agency on disability issues; statistical information is found throughout all of the site's sections, including education, health, employment, transport, income, housing, accessibility, attitudes, and equality.
Office of National Statistics: The Census: Disability Page
Multiple statistics related to UK citizens with disabilities, including those who are blind, deaf or hard of hearing, housing for the disabled, prevalence of disability among children, among other topics.
Canada
Statistics Canada
Search 'disability' for a list of statistical and issue-related reports on disability in Canada (for example, annual profiles of disability in Canada, annual Participation and Activity Limitation Surveys (PALS), research on disability in the workplace, children with disabilities and the educational system etc.
Canadian Institute for Health Information
Search 'disability' to see a list of statistical and issue-related reports; search also on specific conditions such as diabetes or multiple sclerosis.
United States
American Association on Health and Disability: Disability Statistics
A list of special-topic disability-statistics sources.
Census Bureau: Disability
Starting point for all census-gathered disability statistics (demographic, income, etc.).
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Disabilities or Limitations
Statistics for numbers of non-institutionalised adults by type of limitation (hearing, vision, mobility etc.). See also CDC's International Classification of Diseases, Functioning, Disability and Health.
Cornell University Employment and Disability Institute: Disability Statistics
Extremely valuable and comprehensive resource, but takes a bit of time to figure out how to use (start with the FAQs). Stats can be searched by type of disability, race/ethnicity, gender, age, and income level, among other options. Based on data from the three major US data sources: The American Community Survey (ACS), Current Population Survey (CPS) and Census 2000.
Current Population Survey (CPS)
Annual survey to determine whether 'individuals are limited in their ability to work or are unable to work' (i.e. measurement of disability-related employment statistics).
Disability Info.gov
Central resource for all federal government programmes relating to disability services in nine areas: employment, education, housing, transportation, health, benefits, technology, community life (independent living, accessibility, personal assistance services, choice & self determination, crime victims with disabilities, cultural activities, emergency preparedness, multicultural populations resources, national disability organisations, recreation, travel and tourism, volunteering and community service) and civil rights. Type 'disability' in the search box to bring up over 60 statistical reports across all of these topics.
National Organization on Disability (NOD)
Collaborates with the Harris Poll group to produce NOD/Harris Survey of Americans with Disabilities. Although somewhat dated (2004 is most recent) the report still paints a detailed overview of the lives of Americans with disabilities.
References
1. World Health Organization, Global Burden of Disease 2004, Part 3: Disease incidence, prevalence, and disability, p. 31;
2. National Statistics, Health: Limiting Illness,
3. Americans with Disabilities: 2005, Household Economic Studies, December 2008
4. The 2006 Participation and Activity Limitation Survey: Analytical Report: Prevalence of Disability in Canada 2006
5. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Disability, Ageing, and Carers, Australia: Summary of Finding, 2003
By Kim Dority
Kim Dority is the Vice President of Content and Strategy for
Disaboom.com, an online resource for people with disabilities, and the
author of Rethinking Information Work: A Career Guide for Librarians
and Other Information Professionals (Libraries Unlimited, 2006).
FUMSI articles by Kim Dority »
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