Health

  • Good health

    In 2022, 32% of adults (aged 18+) with disability rated their health as excellent or very good, compared with 69% of those without disability.

  • Psychological distress

    In 2022, 27% of adults with disability experienced high or very high levels of psychological distress, compared with 6.7% of those without disability.

  • Daily smoking

    In 2022, 14% of adults with disability were smoking daily, compared with 8.7% of those without disability.

  • Health conditions and disability

    Having a chronic health condition is often associated with disability. In 2022, 58% of people with arthritis as their main condition had disability.

  • Cost as barrier to health care

    In 2022, 46% of people with disability who did not see a dental professional when needed said cost was the main reason.

  • Coordination of care

    In 2022, 47% of people with severe or profound disability saw 3 or more health professionals for the same condition.

Disability and health have a complex relationship. Long-term health conditions might lead to disability, and disability can contribute to health problems. Disability may affect a person’s health by limiting access to and participation in social and physical activities. Health outcomes of people with disability may also be affected by disadvantage or inequality in social determinants of health, such as education, employment, social support, or housing. More information about social determinants of health is available in Social determinants of health in Australia’s health, or in the summary of this report.

In general, people with disability report poorer general and mental health and higher levels of bodily pain than people without disability. People with disability also have higher rates of some modifiable health risk factors and behaviours, such as obesity and smoking, than people without disability.

This chapter explores aspects of health for people with disability, including health status, health risk factors and behaviours, chronic conditions, use of health services, and barriers to accessing health services.

Reporting on health and wellbeing of people with disability for Australia’s Disability Strategy

Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021–2031 (the Strategy) is Australia’s national disability policy framework. It sets out a plan for continuing to improve the lives of people with disability in Australia over the 10 years to 2031. 

The Strategy is supported by an Outcomes Framework. The Outcomes Framework is a key initiative under the Strategy to measure, track and report on the outcomes for people with disability across 7 outcome areas. 

One of these outcome areas is Health and wellbeing. This outcome area is about making it easier for people with disability to get good health care and services when they need it. It includes 4 priorities with a total of 12 measures that are used to track what changes over time (10 of which currently have reportable data and 2 require future data development):

  • Health and wellbeing priority:

    • Potentially avoidable deaths: Number of potentially avoidable deaths in hospital for people receiving government disability supports (238 per 100,000 in 2021–22), compared with people who do not receive these supports (33 per 100,000 in 2021–22)

    • Community health care satisfaction: Proportion of people with disability who are satisfied with the quality of care provided by community allied health care sector (89% in 2024)

    • Self-reported health: Proportion of people with disability who reported excellent, very good or good health (68% in 2022), compared with people without disability (95% in 2022)
  • Prevention and early intervention priority:
    • GP-type emergency presentations: Number of GP-type emergency department presentations for people receiving government disability supports (17,608 per 100,000 in 2021–22)
    • Medical facility accessibility: Proportion of people with disability with difficulty accessing medical facilities (GP, dentist, hospital) (11% in 2022; restricted to people with disability who have challenges with mobility or communication)
    • Access to preventive health care: Proportion of people with disability who accessed preventive and early intervention health care services without difficulty in the last 12 months (66% in 2024), compared with people without disability (82% in 2024)
  • Mental health priority:
    • Involuntary hospital admissions: Number of involuntary hospital admissions per 100,000 people receiving government disability supports (1,841 in 2021–22)
    • High psychological distress: Proportion of adults (aged 18 and over) with disability with high or very high levels of psychological distress (31% in 2022)
    • NDIS participants life satisfaction: Proportion of NDIS participants who report feeling satisfied about their life as a whole (56% in 2024–25)
    • Acute mental health restraint use: Rates of restraint of people with disability in acute mental health hospital services (future data development)
  • Emergency responses priority:
    • Accessing emergency services: Proportion of people with disability reporting satisfaction in the accessibility of emergency, disaster preparedness and response information and services (86% in 2024)
    • Inclusive disaster management: Proportion and number of disaster management services that have disability inclusive plans in place (future data development).

Note: numbers in this summary box and on the Reporting on Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021–2031 website may be different from numbers reported elsewhere in this report. This is because they come from different data sources or time periods.

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