People with disability in Australia

Introduction

Social support enables people with disability to participate in many facets of life. Informal support, often by family, friends and the larger community can assist people with disability to be included in society. This is essential for better health as social isolation and loneliness can be harmful to both mental and physical health (AIHW 2023).

This section covers the social inclusion of people with disability, including participation in society, and isolation and loneliness.

Participation in society

People with disability may face various barriers to participation in society, including those related to discrimination (see ‘Disability discrimination’ for more information). This may lead to lower social participation rates, as well as greater risk of isolation and loneliness than experienced by those without disability.

Getting out and about

For some people with disability, participation in social activities may be affected by difficulty or inability to leave their place of residence (home or cared accommodation), or to get to the places they need to reach.

Being able to leave the house

More than one-quarter (27% or 1.1 million) of people with disability aged 5 and over, living in households, do not leave their place of residence (their home) as often as they would like. A further 38,000 people (0.9% of people with disability aged 5 and over) do not leave home at all (ABS 2019).

Variations exist by sex and age group for people with disability:

• females (29% or 599,000) are more likely than males (25% or 514,000) not to leave home as often as they would like
• people aged 5–64 (31% or 730,000) are more likely not to leave home as often as they would like than those aged 65 and over (22% or 383,000) (ABS 2019).

The most common main reasons for this are own disability or condition (53% or 588,000), fear or anxiety (10% or 111,000), and cost or inability to afford (8.5% or 94,000). Only 2.1% (or 23,000) say it is mainly because of difficulty obtaining transport and 1.0% (or 11,000) say it is because of difficulty using transport (ABS 2019).

Getting from one place to another

People with disability aged 15 and over are more likely (24%) to sometimes or often have difficulty getting to the places they need to reach than people without disability (16%). This varies by age group:

• 23% of those aged 15–64 with disability sometimes or often have difficulty, compared with 17% of those without disability
• 25% of those aged 65 and over with disability sometimes or often have difficulty, compared with 11% of those without disability (ABS 2021).

This also varies by remoteness. One in 8 (13%) people with disability living in Inner regional areas sometimes or often have difficulty getting to the places they need to reach. This is lower than for those living in Major cities (28%) and Outer regional and remote areas (25%) (ABS 2021).

Public transport

Accessible public transport is essential for some people to get around. However, 1 in 7 (15% or 345,000) people with disability aged 5–64, living in households and who leave home, do not have public transport available in their area. A further 1.1% (or 26,000) do not know if public transport is available in their area (ABS 2019).

Around one-quarter (24% or 556,000) of people with disability aged 5–64, living in households and who leave home, do not use a concession card for public transport. A further 56% (or 1.3 million) do not use public transport. The remainder use the following forms of concession cards for public transport:

• 13% use pension or benefit-related transport concession
• 5.5% use other public transport concession
• 1.9% use a Senior’s card (ABS 2019).

The use of concession cards for public transport is different among those aged 65 and over. Only 2.5% (or 44,000) of people aged 65 and over (living in households and who leave home) do not use a concession card and 62% (or 1.1 million) do not use public transport. The remainder use the following forms of concession cards for public transport:

• 20% use a pension or benefit related transport concession
• 18% use a Seniors card
• 1.2% use another public transport concession (ABS 2019).

Participation in social activities

This section briefly discusses various aspects of social participation by people with disability, including participation in social activities or spending free time to pursue their interests, as reported on under the Australia’s Disability Strategy, as well as membership in clubs or associations, volunteering and unpaid work.

Membership in clubs or associations

Around one-quarter (24%) of people with disability aged 15–64 are active members of a sporting, hobby, or community-based club or association, compared with 30% of those without disability. People aged 65 and over are more likely to participate in clubs or associations; however, the proportions are still lower for people with disability in this age group (35%) than for those without disability (44%) (DSS and MIAESR 2022).

Volunteering and unpaid work

One-quarter (25%) of people with disability aged 15–64 had completed unpaid voluntary work in the last 12 months through an organisation, as did nearly one-third (31%) of those without disability (ABS 2021).

More than half (53%) of people with disability aged 15–64 had provided unpaid work or support to non-household members in the previous 4 weeks. This is similar to the proportion of people without disability (52%) (ABS 2021).

Of those with disability aged 15–64 who provided unpaid help to non-household members in the previous 4 weeks, the most common types of unpaid help include:

• providing emotional support (54%)
• providing transport or running errands (46%)
• unpaid child care (25%)
• teaching, coaching or practical advice (20%)
• personal care or assistance (18%) (ABS 2021).

Isolation and loneliness

Loneliness and social isolation are related concepts, but they are not the same. Social isolation is the lack of contact with others, while loneliness is the subjective feeling of being alone. Social isolation can lead to feelings of loneliness; however, some people may feel lonely regardless of the amount of social contact they have. For more information about social isolation and loneliness in Australia, see Social isolation and loneliness and Social isolation, loneliness and wellbeing in Australia's welfare 2023.

People with disability are more likely to experience social isolation and loneliness than Australians without disability. This section talks about some sub-groups of people with disability who may be at an even greater risk of isolation and feeling lonely, and levels of satisfaction with the local community.

Satisfaction with local community

People with disability are more likely to be not satisfied with their local community than those without disability. Among people with disability aged 15 and over, 32% are not satisfied with their community, compared with 24% of those without disability (DSS and MIAESR 2022). While satisfaction with the community increases for older age groups (Figure INCLUSION.1), people with disability are less likely to be satisfied, across all age groups:

• 44% of people aged 15–24 with disability are not satisfied with their community, compared with 27% without disability
• 37% aged 25–44 with disability, compared with 27% without disability
• 33% aged 45–64 with disability, compared with 21% without disability
• 25% aged 65 and over with disability, compared with 15% without disability (Figure INCLUSION.1) (DSS and MIAESR 2022).

People with disability aged 15–64 living in Outer regional, remote and very remote areas (71%) are more likely to be satisfied with their local community than those in Major cities or Inner regional areas (64%). The levels of community satisfaction for those living in Outer regional, remote and very remote areas are similar for people with disability and those without disability (DSS and MIAESR 2022).

People aged 15–64 who have psychosocial or intellectual disability (both 54%) are less likely to be satisfied with their local community than people with sensory or physical disability (both 63%) (DSS and MIAESR 2022).

Figure INCLUSION.1: Satisfaction with local community for people aged 15 and over, by disability status and age group, 2021

Notes:

1. Satisfaction with feeling part of the local community. Ordinal scale from 0 (totally dissatisfied) to 10 (totally satisfied). 
2. ‘Highly satisfied’ includes category 8, 9 and 10 (totally satisfied). ‘Somewhat satisfied’ includes category 6 and 7. ‘Not satisfied’ includes category 0 (totally dissatisfied) to 5 (neither satisfied nor dissatisfied).

Source data tables: Data tables – Social inclusion. View data tables

Social isolation

People with disability aged 15–64 are twice as likely (19%) to experience social isolation as those without disability (9.5%). People with disability are more likely to experience social isolation across all age groups:

• 21% of people aged 15–24 with disability, compared with 12% without disability
• 21% of people aged 25–44 with disability, compared with 9.5% without disability
• 18% of people aged 45–64 with disability, compared with 8.0% without disability
• 9.0% of people aged 65 and over with disability, compared with 5.7% without disability (Figure INCLUSION.2) (DSS and MIAESR 2022).

Figure INCLUSION.2: Whether people aged 15 and over experience social isolation, by disability status and age group, 2021

Notes:
* Relative standard error of 25–50% and should be used with caution.

1. Experience of social isolation is based on the Index of Social Support (ISS). 10 questions about social support are used to calculate the ISS. 
2. ‘Do not experience social isolation’ includes ISS of 0 to 30. ‘Experience social isolation’ includes ISS of -30 to -1.

Source data tables: Data tables – Social inclusion. View data tables

People with severe or profound disability aged 15–64 are more likely (26%) to experience social isolation than people with other disability status (18%) (Figure INCLUSION.2). Social isolation also varies by disability group:

• 30% of people with psychosocial disability aged 15–64 experience social isolation
• 22% with intellectual disability
• 22% with sensory disability
• 20% with physical disability (DSS and MIAESR 2022).

Loneliness

Nearly 3 in 10 (29%) people with disability aged 15–64 experience loneliness compared with 17% of those without disability. This is even higher among people with severe or profound disability, at 38% (28% for those with other disability status) (DSS and MIAESR 2022).

Among people with disability, younger age groups have higher rates of loneliness than older age groups. Loneliness is experienced among:

• 34% of those aged 15–24
• 31% of those aged 25–44
• 27% of those aged 45–64
• 19% of those aged 65 and over (Figure INCLUSION.3) (DSS and MIAESR 2022).

Variation in experience of loneliness also exists by disability group. People aged 15–64 with psychosocial disability (49%) are most likely to experience loneliness while people with sensory disability (29%) are least likely to experience loneliness (DSS and MIAESR 2022).

Figure INCLUSION.3: Whether people aged 15 and over experience loneliness, by disability status and age group, 2021

Notes:
* Relative standard error of 25–50% and should be used with caution.

1. Experience of loneliness is collected as ‘I often feel very lonely’ on an ordinal scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree).
2. ‘Do not experience loneliness’ includes category 1–4. ‘Experience loneliness’ includes category 5–7.

Source data tables: Data tables – Social inclusion. View data tables