People with disability may need help with daily activities—for example, eating, showering, or moving around. They may also need help to participate in social and economic life. To do so, people with disability may use a range of formal support services and informal care, such as that provided by family and friends.
This page provides information about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians with disability, and their use of specialist disability support services.
Among Indigenous Australians living in private households in 2015:
- 24% (125,000 people) were living with disability—defined as any limitation, restriction or impairment which restricts a person’s everyday activities, and has lasted, or is likely to last, for at least 6 months
- 7.3% (38,100) had severe or profound disability—meaning they sometimes or always needed help with daily activities related to self-care, mobility or communication (ABS 2017).
These estimates are based on data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2015 Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDAC). They relate to people living in private households, not those in cared accommodation such as residential aged care. Recent estimates are also available from two other ABS data sources—the 2014–15 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS) and the 2016 ABS Census of Population and Housing.
While each collection has different purposes and methodologies for capturing information about disability, their estimates of severe or profound disability among Indigenous Australians are broadly similar. For example, among Indigenous Australians aged 15 and over living in non-remote areas, the rate of severe or profound disability was 7.2% according to the SDAC, 7.8% according to the NATSISS, and 8.5% according to the Census (ABS 2019; see that report for more information about sources of disability data about Indigenous Australians).
Based on the SDAC, in 2015:
- disability rates for Indigenous males and females were similar (23% and 25%, respectively)
- Indigenous Australians aged 55 and over had a higher rate of disability than those in younger age groups. More than half (58%) of Indigenous Australians aged 55 and over were living with some form of disability and 18% had severe or profound disability (Figure 1).