People with disability in Australia 2026

Introduction

People with disability may use various aids and technologies to help them carry out the tasks of daily living and to fully participate in the community, in work, and in social life. Aids can range from low tech mobility equipment and tools to advanced technologies. They are collectively designed to enhance self-care and independence, safety and participation in everyday activities.

It is important to understand who uses aids and for what purpose to get insights into the diversity of support needs across the disability community, and to understand unmet needs.

Who uses aids

In 2022, just over half (54%, or 3.0 million) of people with disability were using aids or equipment to assist with various activities of daily living. The proportions using aids were much higher among people with disability living in cared accommodation; 94% (or 170,000) of people with disability in cared accommodation used aids or equipment. This compares with 53% (or 2.8 million) of people with disability of all ages living in households (AIHW analysis of ABS 2024).

The remainder of this page focuses on the use of aids by people with disability living in households.

For people with disability living in households, use of aids and equipment was higher among those aged 65 and over. Almost 3 in 4 (74% or 1.6 million) people with disability in this age group used aids, compared with 39% (or 1.2 million) of those aged under 65 (Figure AIDS.1).

Among younger people with disability (aged under 65) living in households, use of aids and equipment was higher for:

• people with severe or profound disability – 56% (or 606,000) of people with severe or profound disability aged under 65 used aids or equipment, compared with 30% (or 626,000) of those with other disability status in this age group
• people with sensory or speech disability, and those with disability related to head injury, stroke or acquired brain injury – 54% (or 424,000) and 60% (or 108,000), respectively, were using aids or equipment, compared with 39% for all people with disability in this age group
• people living in Outer regional or Remote areas – 46% (or 171,000) of people in these areas used aids, compared with 37% (or 263,000) in Inner regional areas and 38% 797,000) in Major cities in this age group
• people from CALD backgrounds – 41% (or 172,000) in the CALD group were using aids, compared with 38% (or 1.1 million) in the non-CALD group (Figure AIDS.1; AIHW analysis of ABS 2024).

Among older people with disability (aged 65 and over), use of aids and equipment was slightly higher among men. More than 3 in 4 (76%, or 772,000) men with disability were using aids, compared with 73% (or 799,000) of women with disability in this age group (Figure AIDS.1).

First Nations people with disability are less likely to use aids or equipment than non-Indigenous people with disability. More than half (53%, or 2.7 million) of non-Indigenous people were using aids, compared with 45% (or 83,000) of First Nations people (Figure AIDS.1).

Types of aids used

For people with disability living in households, the 2 most common types of aids used are communication aids and medical aids to manage health conditions (Figure AIDS.2). These types of aids are used by 24% (or 1.3 million) and 23% (or 1.2 million) of people with disability, respectively. Other common types of aids are aids to assist with mobility tasks (used by 16%, or 861,000 people) and self-care aids (used by 14%, or 755,000 people) (AIHW analysis of ABS 2024).

Among aids to assist with mobility tasks, the most common types are aids that help moving around in places away from home. These aids are used by 12% (or 625,000) of all people with disability living in households. As for self-care aids, these are most often used to help with showering or bathing – by 9.8% (or 521,000) of people with disability living in households (AIHW analysis of ABS 2024).

Use of most types of aids increases with age. People with disability aged 65 and over (and living in households) are generally two or more times likely to use specific aids than those aged under 65. One exception is aids for meal preparation, which are used at similar rates by the two age groups (Figure AIDS.2).

The use of different types of aids also varies by sex (Figure AIDS.2). Females are more likely to use mobility or self-care aids (18% and 17%, respectively) compared with males (14% and 12%, respectively). At the same time, males are more likely to use communication aids than females (28% compared with 21%) (AIHW analysis of ABS 2024). This is likely related to different types of disability being more common among males and females, especially in the older age groups. As reported in Disability group and Disability type sections of this report, from about age 55 women are more likely to have physical disability than men, while men are more likely to have sensory or speech disability (specifically, hearing impairment) than women.

People with severe or profound disability are much more likely to use any specific types of aids than people with less severe forms of disability (Figure AIDS.2). The differences are particularly large for aids and equipment to help with mobility tasks and self-care aids. Aids for mobility tasks are used by 35% of people with severe or profound disability, compared with 6.1% of people with other disability status. Aids for self-care are used by 31% of people with severe or profound disability and 5.5% of people with other disability status (AIHW analysis of ABS 2024).

Use of communication aids is particularly common among people with sensory or speech disability. This is especially the case for people aged 65 and over with this disability, of whom 74% use communication aids. Use of aids to assist with mobility and self-care is particularly common for people who have disability associated with head injury, stroke or acquired brain injury. Among people with this disability, 35% use aids to assist with mobility tasks and 29% use self-care aids (AIHW analysis of ABS 2024).

As reported in the previous section, the overall use of aids is higher for non-Indigenous people with disability, and people with disability living in Outer regional or Remote areas. However, there are no differences in the use of specific types of aids depending on remoteness. There appear to be higher rates of use of communication aids and medical aids to manage health conditions among non-Indigenous people with disability compared with First Nations people. However, due to smaller sample size for First Nations people with disability, it is not possible to confirm this finding statistically.

People with disability from CALD backgrounds are more likely than those in the non-CALD group to use aids for:

• mobility tasks – 19% of people from CALD backgrounds and 16% in the non-CALD group use these aids
• communication – 27% and 24% in each group
• medically managing their health conditions – 29% and 22% in each group (AIHW analysis of ABS 2024).

Mobility aids

About 1 in 6 (18%, or 968,000) people with disability use mobility aids such as walking frames or sticks, wheelchairs, or canes (AIHW analysis of ABS 2024). Earlier sections refer to aids for mobility tasks. Mobility aids are one type of aids for mobility tasks; others include non-mobility aids such as grab rails.

Use of mobility aids is much more common among people with disability living in cared accommodation. About 8 in 10 (79%, or 143,000) people with disability in cared accommodation use mobility aids, compared with 16% (or 823,000) of those living in households. Females are more likely to use mobility aids than males (20% and 14%, respectively). Finally, the use of mobility aids is more common among people aged 65 and over, at 29%, compared with 9.7% of those aged under 65 (AIHW analysis of ABS 2024).

The most commonly used mobility aids are:

• walking frames (used by 7.3% of all people with disability)
• walking sticks (6.2%)
• wheelchairs – mostly manual (used by 3.5% of all people with disability) but also electric (0.7% of people with disability)
• technology aids to reduce movement around home or residence (3.5% of all people with disability) (AIHW analysis of ABS 2024).

For people with disability living in cared accommodation, the most commonly used mobility aids are walking frames, manual wheelchairs, and lifting machines or hoists (used by 47%, 42% and 28%, respectively) (AIHW analysis of ABS 2024).

Communication aids

About 1 in 4 (25%, or 1.3 million) people with disability use communication aids. This type of aids includes hearing aids or technology to assist with speaking, reading, or writing (AIHW analysis of ABS 2024).

People with disability living in cared accommodation are much more likely to use communication aids than for those living in households, although the difference is not as large as for mobility aids. About 4 in 10 (38% or 69,000) people with disability in cared accommodation use communication aids, compared with 24% (1.3 million) of those living in households. Males are more likely than females to use communication aids (28% and 21%, respectively). People aged 65 and over are also more likely to use these aids than people under 65 (38% and 15%, respectively) (AIHW analysis of ABS 2024).

The most commonly used type of communication aids is hearing aids. These are used by 1 in 6 (17%, or 930,000) people with disability. Men aged 65 and over are particularly likely to use hearing aids (40% or 431,000), although the use of hearing aids is also common for women in this age group (27% or 320,000) (AIHW analysis of ABS 2024).

High technology communication aids have become more common in the recent years. The data about the use of this type of aids have been collected for the first time in 2022. About 3.2% (or 177,000) of people with disability use high technology aids to assist with reading or writing, and 2.9% (or 161,000) use high technology aids to assist with speaking (AIHW analysis of ABS 2024).

Unmet need for aids

Of all people with disability living in households, 7.4% (or 392,000) have unmet need for aids. This means they need more aids or equipment than they have. A further 78% (or 4.1 million) do not need more aids, and the remaining 15% (or 791,000) are not sure (AIHW analysis of ABS 2024).

The unmet need for aids is slightly higher for people aged 65 and over (8.2% or 173,000) than for those aged under 65 (6.8% or 218,000). People with severe or profound disability are much more likely to have unmet need for aids (13% or 247,000) than people with less severe forms of disability (4.2% of 144,000) (AIHW analysis of ABS 2024).

The rates of unmet need for aids are similar for people living in Major cities, Inner regional areas, and Outer regional and Remote areas. The rate of unmet need is also similar for First Nations and non-Indigenous people with disability. However, people with disability from CALD backgrounds are more likely than those in the non-CALD group to have unmet need for aids. About 1 in 10 (9.4%, or 78,000) people with disability from CALD backgrounds need more aids than they have, compared with 7.0% (or 315,000) in the non-CALD group. People from CALD backgrounds are also more likely to be unsure as to whether they need more aids, at 19% (or 159,000) compared with 14% (or 631,000) (AIHW analysis of ABS 2024).

The most common type of aids with unmet need are aids to assist with mobility tasks, followed by self-care aids. Overall, 2.7% (or 142,000) of people with disability living in households need more aids to assist with mobility, and 1.8% (or 94,000) need more aids to assist with self-care (AIHW analysis of ABS 2024).