UNSD draft questionnaire on Disability Statistics

Bangkok, 24-28 May 2004

Lene Mikkelsen, Chief of Statistics Development , UNESCAP

Why this questionnaire?

• Special edition of the 1991 Demographic Yearbook contained disability data
• This could become regular feature as UN has the mandate to collect these data
• Systematic collection and dissemination by DY would raise awareness and demand nationally
• ICF has provided the common framework for increased comparability of disability data
• Make disability part of the larger set of demographic statistics
• Increase availability to an international audience

Information to be requested from countries

• Basic statistical information collected in most disability surveys
• Methodological information on questions used to identify the population with disabilities
• Information on the collection tools used

Statistical data to be requested

Persons with disability:

• by age, sex, urban/rural residence
• 5-29 years by school attendance, single year and sex
• 15 years and over by usual activity status, age and sex

Metadata to be requested

To facilitate interpretation of the data:

• Definition of disability used in the data collection
• Questions used to identify the population with disabilities
• Information on the sources of the data

Draft questionnaire on disability statistics

• Distributed to all participants for discussion and comments
• Currently being tested in different regions
• ESCAP has sent it to 10 countries participating in this workshop
• Replies received and discussion will be reported back to UNSD

Options for the collection

• The four tables could be part and parcel of the extended Demographic Yearbook questionnaire used in census years
• The four tables could be a stand-alone questionnaire that would periodically be sent to countries

Section 1: data sources

• Nine out of 10 collect some disability data
• Six do so in the census
• Six have undertaken some sample survey
• Four have administrative sources, for two these are the only information on disability
• Only two have all three types of sources

Section I-A: Population censuses

• Five out of six collected disability data in the 2000 census round
• All undertook complete counts, face-to-face
• Reason given by all: policy use
• All used one respondent per household
• All published the information
• Questions used???

Example of questions used in census

• Does ….have physical or mental disability?
• Type of disability? (blind,deaf, mute, physically handicapped,mental disability,other)
• Cause of disability? (congenital, accident, natural disaster, violence/war, other)

Section I-B: Sample surveys

• Three out of the six sample surveys were focussed on disability (one limited to children 0-6)
• Other three were socio-economic household surveys
• Sample size went from 5000-70 000 households or 0.01-3.5% of the population
• Purpose was to cover analytical and policy needs
• All were face-to-face interviews
• Respondent head of household/self-respondent/parent

Section I-C: Administrative sources

• Three countries have registration for disability (one in pilot stage)
• Five cover any type, one state 8 major categories (medical certification?)
• Five of six have continuous registration
• Purpose: Identity cards, service needs and social rehabilitation, pension purpose, serve as a comprehensive tool for government, PWDs and NGOs. One stated statistics.
• No data are generally published

Section III: Disability definition used

• Five out of ten used a definition of disability which referred to activity limitations (but not in the screening question)
• Half had in the definition some reference to permanent or long-term condition/ excluding temporary disability
• For the question on disability most had dichotomous response categories (yes/no)
• Two had some indication of severity categories
• Seven stated that they used an impairment approach (3 also activity)
• One used an activity approach

Section V: Why disability data is not collected

• The country which had no data stated lack of resources
• Two - which had only administrative sources - stated that other collections were planned

Table 1: Summary of replies

• Seven out of ten could provide the disability data by sex and age, two had only all ages
• Four stated that the data was not available by residence

Table 2: School attendance

• Three countries stated that the school attendance data was not available
• One had only educational attainment
• One had only data for those attending school and not by sex

Table 3: Population by activity status

• Half of the countries could give information on the employment status
• Three on the not economically active (only one by age groups)
• No one could give data on those seeking work for the first time

Feedback on questionnaire

UNSD would appreciate your comments on:

• the information collected in the questionnaire (both metadata and data)>
• Should it be a separate questionnaire?
• What should be the frequency?
• Whether national statistical offices can coordinate the data collection?