Introduction
Social support enables the inclusion of 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 2021).
This section covers the social inclusion of people with disability, including participation in society, and isolation and loneliness.
Participation in society
Participation in society consists of engagement and interaction across several life areas. People with disability actively participate in all areas, however their rates of participation may vary compared with those without disability. This section covers being able to leave home, difficulty getting to places needed, membership of associations and voluntary work, and participating in cultural events.
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’.
Leaving home
More than one-quarter (27% or 1.1 million) of people with disability aged 5 and over, living in households, do not leave home as often as they would like. A further 0.9% (or 38,000) 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
General Social Survey
Data in this section are sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) 2019 General Social Survey (GSS). The GSS collects information on the social characteristics, wellbeing and social experiences of people aged 15 and over living in private dwellings in Australia.
The GSS uses the ABS Short Disability Module to identify disability. While this module provides useful information about the characteristics of people with disability relative to those without, it is not recommended for use in measuring disability prevalence.
In the GSS a person is considered to have disability if they had one or more conditions (including long-term health conditions) which have lasted, or are likely to last, for at least 6 months and restrict everyday activities. Disability is further classified by whether a person has a specific limitation or restriction and then by whether the limitation or restriction applies to core activities or only to schooling or employment.
The level 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 reported for mild, moderate, severe, and profound limitation.
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).
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, 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, 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 older people who leave home. Only 2.5% (or 44,000) of people aged 65 and over 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
Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey
Some of the 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 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 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).
Self-Completion Questionnaire
In addition to personal face-to-face interviews, survey participants are asked to complete a self-completion questionnaire. The self-completion questionnaire covers sensitive questions some people may not feel entirely comfortable answering in a face-to-face interview.
Active membership of club or association
As part of the HILDA self-completion questionnaire, respondents are asked whether they are currently an active member of a sporting, hobby or community based club or association.
Just over one-quarter (28%) of people with disability aged 15–64 were active members of a club or association, compared with 36% of those without disability. People with severe or profound disability (20%) were even less likely to be active members than those with other disability (29%) (DSS and MIAESR 2019).
One-quarter (25%) of people with disability aged 15–64 had completed unpaid voluntary work in the last 12 months through an organisation, compared with 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).
National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey
Data on social participation of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people with disability are sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) 2014–15 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS). The NATSISS collects information from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in private dwellings across Australia on a range of demographic, social, environmental and economic characteristics.
The NATSISS uses the ABS Short Disability Module to identify disability. While this module provides useful information about the characteristics of people with disability relative to those without, it is not recommended for use in measuring disability prevalence.
In the NATSISS, a person is considered to have disability if they have one or more conditions (including long-term health conditions) which have lasted, or are likely to last, for at least 6 months and restrict everyday activities. Disability is further classified by whether a person has a specific limitation or restriction and then by whether the limitation or restriction applies to core activities or only to schooling or employment.
The level 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 reported for mild, moderate, severe, and profound limitation.
For Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 and over who cannot attend or participate in cultural events as often as they want to, reasons include:
- work commitments – 33% of those with disability who could not attend or participate in cultural events as often as they wanted named work commitments as the reason (46% of those without disability)
- cannot afford to attend – 26% with disability and 13% without disability
- transport problems – 23% with disability and 14% without disability (ABS 2016).
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.
Satisfaction with local community
Satisfaction with local community
Satisfaction with local community refers to feeling part of the local community. This information is regularly collected as part of the HILDA Survey on an ordinal scale from 0 (totally dissatisfied) to 10 (totally satisfied).
Scores of 8, 9 and 10 indicate being totally satisfied. Scores of 6 and 7 indicate being somewhat satisfied. Scores of 0 to 5 indicate not being satisfied.
Four in 10 (39%) people with disability aged 15–64 are not satisfied with their local community, compared with 27% of those without disability. People with disability are more likely not to be satisfied than those without disability across all age groups:
- 46% of people aged 15–24 with disability, compared with 29% without disability
- 40% aged 25–44 with disability, compared with 28% without disability
- 37% aged 45–64 with disability, compared with 24% without disability
- 25% aged 65 and over with disability, compared with 19% without disability (Figure INCLUSION.1) (DSS and MIAESR 2019).