Overview

People with disability interact with every aspect of social policy and programs in Australia. They access both specialist and mainstream services across a wide variety of areas. Many also receive support through informal carers.

More reports and statistics on disability services can be found under Disability.

Latest findings

In 2018-19, about 230,000 people used disability support services under the National Disability Agreement (NDA) 6.3% of service user deaths were caused by perinatal and congenital conditions Rates of potentially avoidable deaths for male service users was 1.5 times as high as the rate for females Service users’ rate of potentially avoidable deaths was 3.6 times as high as the rate for the general population Around three-quarters (77%) of service users aged 15 and over who were in the labour force were unemployed. People with acquired brain injury and neurological disabilities had the highest rates of death About two-thirds (67%) of service users had an informal carer, most often their mother (65%) Most (95%) NDA service users were aged under 65, with an average age of 39 Service users were 4.7 times as likely to die before aged 65 compared with the general population 5.9% of service user deaths were caused by spinal muscular atrophy

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Highlights

About 230,000people used services under the National Disability Agreement (NDA) in 2018–19
About 1 in 8(13%) NDA service users transitioned to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) during the year
95%Most NDA service users were aged under 65, with an average age of 39
77%Around three-quarters of NDA service users aged 15 and over who were in the labour force were unemployed