People with disability in Australia

Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers

Data in this section are largely sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) 2018 Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDAC). The SDAC is the most detailed and comprehensive source of data on disability prevalence in Australia.

The SDAC considers that a person has disability if they have at least one of a list of limitations, restrictions or impairments, which has lasted, or is likely to last, for at least 6 months and restricts everyday activities.

The limitations are grouped into 10 activities associated with daily living – self-care, mobility, communication, cognitive or emotional tasks, health care, reading or writing tasks, transport, household chores, property maintenance, and meal preparation. The SDAC also identifies 2 other life areas in which people may experience restriction or difficulty as a result of disability – schooling and employment.

The severity of disability is defined by whether a person needs help, has difficulty, or uses aids or equipment with 3 core activities – self-care, mobility, and communication – and is grouped for mild, moderate, severe, and profound limitation. People who always or sometimes need help with one or more core activities, have difficulty understanding or being understood by family or friends, or can communicate more easily using sign language or other non-spoken forms of communication are referred to in this section as ‘people with severe or profound disability’.

How is remoteness defined?

The remoteness categories used in the ABS SDAC are defined by the Australian Statistical Geography Standard Remoteness Structure (ABS 2016a) which divides Australia into 5 classes of remoteness on the basis of a measure of relative access to services. Very remote areas are out of scope for the SDAC.

Disability group

Disability group is a broad categorisation of disability. It is based on underlying health conditions and on impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions. It is not a diagnostic grouping, nor is there a one-to-one correspondence between a health condition and a disability group.

The ABS SDAC broadly groups disabilities depending on whether they relate to functioning of the mind or the senses, or to anatomy or physiology. Each disability group may refer to a single disability or be composed of a number of broadly similar disabilities. The SDAC identifies 6 separate groups based on the particular type of disability; these are:

• sensory and speech (sight, hearing, speech)
• intellectual (difficulty learning or understanding)
• physical (including breathing difficulties, chronic or recurrent pain, incomplete use of limbs and more)
• psychosocial (including nervous or emotional conditions, mental illness, memory problems, and social or behavioural difficulties)
• head injury, stroke or acquired brain injury
• other (restrictions in everyday activities due to other long-term conditions or ailments) (ABS 2019).

What is meant by school, school-age and school student?

In this section:

• School refers to primary and secondary school. Children in Australia aged 16 and 17 must be enrolled in school or a training organisation, be employed or be in a combination of school/training/employment.
• School-age refers to people aged 5–18 living in households.
• School student refers to people aged 5–18 living in households who attend primary or secondary school.

Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey​

Data in this section are sourced from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. The HILDA Survey is a nationally representative, household-based longitudinal study of Australian households and individuals conducted in annual waves since 2001. Members of selected households who are Australian residents and aged 15 or over are invited to participate in a personal face-to-face interview. This section presents cross-sectional analyses of the 17th wave (2017). In 2017 almost 18,000 people from around 10,000 households participated in the HILDA Survey.

The HILDA Survey defines disability as an impairment, long-term health condition or disability that restricts everyday activities and has lasted, or is likely to last, for a period of 6 months or more. This is similar to the definition of disability used by the ABS Short Disability Module. In this section people who always or sometimes need help or supervision with at least one core activity because of their disability are referred to as people with ‘severe or profound disability’. Core activities include self-care, mobility and communication. People who have a disability but do not always or sometimes need help or supervision with at least one core activity are referred to as people with ‘other disability’. The HILDA Survey does not collect information on level of disability in every wave. The most recent collection was in the 17th wave (2017) (Summerfield et al. 2019; Wilkins et al. 2019).

How is remoteness defined?

The remoteness categories used in HILDA are based on the Australian Statistical Geography Standard Remoteness Area framework (Summerfield et al. 2019).

Disability group​

Disability group is a broad categorisation of disability. It is based on underlying health conditions and on impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions. It is not a diagnostic grouping, nor is there a one-to-one correspondence between a health condition and a disability group.

The HILDA Survey collects information on 17 disability types, which have been combined into the following 6 disability groups:

• sensory: includes sight, hearing, and speech problems
• intellectual: includes difficulty learning or understanding things
• physical: includes difficulty breathing, blackouts, chronic pain, limited use of arms or fingers, difficulty gripping things, limited use of feet or legs, physical restrictions, and disfigurement or deformity
• psychosocial: includes nervous or emotional conditions, and mental illness
• head injury, stroke or other brain damage
• other: includes long-term conditions that are restrictive despite treatment or medication, and other long-term conditions.

Interpreting changes in school attendance

Changing patterns in the type of school people with disability attend might reflect a mix of positive and negative experiences at student level.

Attendance at a special school might, for example, provide the most appropriate support for some students, but might also result in, or be the result of, increased segregation.

Likewise, attendance at mainstream schools could indicate that the education system has become better at integrating students with disability, fostering inclusion and providing additional, tailored supports. Or it could be that resources are directing the placement of students into mainstream schools even if an appropriate level of support is not provided.

In addition, the increased number of students attending school with additional supports – such as through part-time attendance – might be a positive change if this reflects the most appropriate support (rather than lack of support), or if it enables attendance for someone who previously did not attend school.

Other sources of data on school students

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability

The Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD) includes information provided annually to the Australian Government’s Department of Education, Skills and Employment by both government and non-government schools.

The NCCD is primarily designed to collect information on the supports received by students with disability to help them participate in education. As such, it produces a support-based estimate of students with disability and is not intended to provide estimates of prevalence.

According to the 2021 NCCD:

• around 878,000 students received educational adjustments because of disability, or over 1 in 5 (22%) students
• most students who required adjustments had cognitive disability (55% of students with disability who received adjustments), followed by social-emotional disability (31%), physical disability (11%) and sensory disability (3.1%)
• students with disability who receive educational adjustments required
  • adjustments of support within quality differentiated teaching practice (33%) – made infrequently or as low-level action. These may include minor adjustments to teaching and monitoring to meet safety requirements through usual school processes
  • supplementary adjustments (43%) – for particular activities at specific times throughout the week. These may include adjustments to teaching, the provision of course materials in accessible forms, and programs to address the student’s social/emotional needs
  • substantial adjustments (17%) – made at most times on most days. These may include individualised instruction for most activities, and closely monitored playground supervision
  • extensive adjustments (8.1%) – made at all times. These may include intensive instruction in a highly specialised manner for all activities, highly modified classroom environments, and extensive support from specialist staff
• 23% of students attending government schools, 20% attending independent schools, and 20% attending Catholic schools receive adjustments because of disability
• government schools have a higher proportion of students who receive ‘extensive’ or ‘substantial’ levels of adjustment than Catholic or independent schools – 28% of students with disability at government schools who receive adjustments, compared with 22% at Catholic schools and 17% at independent schools (ACARA 2021).

The NCCD was progressively implemented in Australian schools from 2013, with 2015 being the first year that almost all schools participated. As more years of data are compiled, this collection has the potential to provide more information about trends.

For more information on the NCCD.

Mission Australia’s Youth Survey

In 2019 Mission Australia conducted a survey of young people (aged 15–19) including a cluster of questions focused on disability. The 18th annual survey of young people received 25,100 responses. In Mission Australia’s Youth Survey 2019, 6.5% (or 1,600) of young people reported having disability and 91.3% (or 23,100) reported no disability. It should be noted that this study reflects the views of survey participants who self-reported disability. Due to the survey design, it is not considered a representative sample of young people with disability or of the Australian population more generally (Hall et al. 2020).

Young people who reported having disability were:

• mostly studying full-time (85%) while 6.0% were studying part-time and 9.4% were not studying. This is different from those without disability (94% studying full-time, 2.4% studying part-time, and 3.6% not studying)
• less likely to be very satisfied or satisfied (57%) with their studies than respondents without disability (68%), and more likely to be dissatisfied or very dissatisfied (16% compared with 6.9%)
• less likely (92%) to intend to complete Year 12 (of those who were still at school) than those without disability (96%).

When asked about post-school plans, young people with disability intended to:

• go to university (48% compared with 66% of those without disability)
• get a job (40% compared with 33%)
• travel/gap year (24% compared with 28%)
• go to TAFE or college (20% compared with 11%)
• get an apprenticeship (15% compared with 11%).

Note that respondents were able to choose more than one option.

When asked how confident they were about achieving their study/work goals after school, young people with disability (40%) were less likely to be extremely confident or very confident than those without disability (47%).

Young people with disability were more likely (64%) to face barriers to achieving their study/work goals after school than those without disability (48%). Of those who faced barriers, the most common barriers were:

• mental health (28% compared with 16% of those without disability)
• academic ability (25% compared with 20%)
• financial difficulty (13% compared with 12%)
• physical health (12% compared with 4.0%).

Note that respondents were able to choose more than one option (Hall et al. 2020).

Early childhood education

In 2019, children with disability made up 6.8% (or 16,000) of children enrolled in a preschool program in the year before full time schooling (children aged 4 and those aged 5 who were not repeating) (SCRGSP 2021).

In 2016, children with disability aged 0–5 made up 3.4% of children attending child care services approved by the Australian Government. In the 2016 National Early Childhood Education and Care Workforce Census, children with disability in child care services are those who the service provider identifies as having continuing disability including intellectual, sensory or physical impairment (SCRGSP 2021).

What is non-school education?

Non-school refers to education other than pre-primary, primary or secondary education. It includes studying for qualifications at postgraduate degree level, master’s degree level, graduate diploma and graduate certificate level, bachelor’s degree level, advanced diploma and diploma level, and certificates I, II, III and IV levels. A student may study for a non-school qualification at the same time as a school qualification.

‘Non-school student’ refers to people aged 15–64 living in households who are studying for a non-school qualification.

Other sources of data on non-school students

Other sources of data about students with disability studying for a non-school qualification include the National Centre for Vocational Education Research’s (NCVER) Total Vocational Education and Training (VET) Students and Courses Collection; and the Department of Education, Skills and Employment’s (DESE) Higher Education Student Data Collection, Student Experience Survey and Graduate Outcomes Survey.

These sources define disability differently from each other and from the ABS SDAC. They also rely on self-disclosure of disability. Because of this, figures vary between sources.

Total VET Students and Courses Collection

In this collection, disability refers to ‘whether the student self-identifies as having a disability, impairment or long-term condition’.

The 2020 collection indicates that 4.4% (or 172,000) of VET students self-identified as having a disability, impairment or long-term health condition; 83% (or 3.3 million) identified as not having disability and for 13% (or 501,000) disability status is recorded as not known (NCVER 2021).

Private training providers were the most common provider type for VET students with and without disability. However, in 2020, VET students with disability were:

• less likely to attend a private training provider (56% or 96,400) than those without disability (73% or 2.4 million)
• more likely to attend TAFE (34% or 58,000 compared with 21% or 680,000).

VET students with disability were also:

• about as likely to be full-time students (12% or 20,300) as those without disability (11% or 359,000)
• more likely to be aged 15–19 (21% or 36,200) than those without disability (14% or 470,000)
• less likely to be aged 30–39 (15% or 25,600) than those without disability (23% or 740,000)
• more likely to be female (52% or 89,200) than those without disability (48% or 1.5 million) (for those with known gender)
• more likely to live in Inner regional regions (25% or 40,400) than those without disability (19% or 565,000) (for those with known remoteness region)
• more likely to be attending school while completing their VET course (11% or 18,900) than those without disability (8.1% or 250,000) (for those with known school status)
• slightly less likely to have successfully completed some post-secondary education (54% or 89,400) than those without disability (59% or 1.9 million) (for those with known prior education status)
  • less likely to have attained a bachelor degree (9.0% or 15,100) as their highest level of educational attainment than those without disability (20% or 618,000) (for those with known educational attainment)
  • more likely to have left school after Year 10 and not yet pursued further study (17% or 28,400) than those without disability (9.6% or 295,000)
• less likely to be in the labour force (employed or unemployed) (82% or 129,000) than those without disability (93% or 2.6 million) (for those with known labour force status)
• less likely to be employed (47% or 74,500) than those without disability (77% or 2.2 million) (NCVER 2021).

Higher Education Student Data Collection

In this collection, students with disability ‘have indicated that they have a disability, impairment or long-term medical condition which may affect their studies’. In 2019, 7.2% (or 77,600) of domestic higher education students had a disability or long-term health condition that may affect their studies:

• students who identify as having disability are more likely (3.6% or 2,760) to also identify as Indigenous than those who do not identify as having disability (1.8% or 18,300)
• the proportion of students who identify as having disability has steadily increased from 4.0% in 2006 to 5.0% in 2012 and 7.2% in 2019 (DESE 2020).

Student Experience Survey

DESE’s Student Experience Survey (SES) contains information on current undergraduate and postgraduate level students of Australian higher education institutions. The questionnaire asks students about their study experiences.

In 2020, 6.9% (or 12,800) of the undergraduate students who completed the SES reported disability and 3.5% (or 3,360) of the postgraduate coursework students.

Data from the 2020 SES show that current students who reported disability in:

• undergraduate courses were less likely (66%) than those without disability (69%) to give a positive rating to the quality of their entire educational experience
• postgraduate coursework courses were also less likely (66%) than those without disability (69%) to give a positive rating to the quality of their entire educational experience
• undergraduate courses were more likely (27%) than those without disability (19%) to consider early departure from their course
• postgraduate coursework courses were also more likely (30%) than those without disability (20%) to consider early departure from their course (QILT 2021).

Graduate Outcomes Survey

The Graduate Outcomes Survey (GOS) contains information on satisfaction for undergraduate- and postgraduate-level graduates. It is completed by graduates of Australian higher education institutions about 4 months after course completion.

Data from the 2020 GOS show that graduates who reported they had disability were less likely than those without disability to be satisfied with various aspects of their studies, including:

• for undergraduate courses – with their course overall (78% of graduates who reported disability compared with 81% of those without disability) and with development of generic skills (81% compared with 83%)
• for postgraduate coursework courses – with their course overall (77% compared with 82%), and with specific aspects such as teaching (68% compared with 71%) and development of generic skills (76% compared with 81%)
• for postgraduate research courses – with their course overall (76% compared with 86%), and with specific aspects such as supervision (77% compared with 83%), intellectual climate (52% compared with 65%), skills development (88% compared with 93%), infrastructure (61% compared with 77%), thesis examination (75% compared with 82%), goals and expectations (88% compared with 91%), and industry engagement (49% compared with 58%) (QILT 2020).

Non-disclosure of disability

Not all students with disability choose to disclose their disability.

One survey of 1,100 students (including 253 students with disability) on non-disclosure of equity group status in Australian universities estimated that 11% did not disclose their equity status to their university. Of students who did not disclose their equity status, 11% of students with disability did not disclose their disability to their university (Clark et al. 2018).

Students with disability may trust in the university and believe that disclosure is of benefit to them. Students with disability may also fear prejudice at the university, such as being labelled as less competent or deserving of their academic success. Students with disability also may not believe the university needs the information or do not know why they should disclose.

The survey also found that students with disability are more likely to disclose to a support service than to an admissions centre or on enrolment. The survey suggested that students are motivated to disclose if they feel they need to access supports, and may not know if they need such support until after they have started studying.