People with disability in Australia

Web report

Last updated: 03 Sep 2019

Author: AIHW

Media release

AIHW

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2019. People with disability in Australia. Cat. no. DIS 72. Canberra: AIHW. Viewed 05 July 2020, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/disability/people-with-disability-in-australia

APA

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2019). People with disability in Australia. Retrieved from https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/disability/people-with-disability-in-australia

MLA

People with disability in Australia. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 03 September 2019, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/disability/people-with-disability-in-australia

Vancouver

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. People with disability in Australia [Internet]. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2019 [cited 2020 Jul. 5]. Available from: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/disability/people-with-disability-in-australia

Harvard

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2019, People with disability in Australia, viewed 5 July 2020, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/disability/people-with-disability-in-australia

People with disability in Australia brings together information from a range of national data sources to contribute to a greater understanding about disability in Australia. It shows that some people with disability face challenges routinely and actively participating in everyday life areas (such as employment) and are more likely to experience poor health, discrimination and violence.

Highlights from this report are presented in People with disability in Australia: in brief

Cat. no: DIS 72

Findings from this report:

32% of adults with disability experience high/very high psychological distress, compared with 8% without disability.
47% of adults with disability have experienced violence after the age of 15, compared with 36% without disability.
48% of working-age (aged 15–64) people with disability are employed, compared with 79% without disability.
24% of adults with disability experience very good or excellent health, compared with 65% of without disability.

Education restrictions

What are schooling and education restrictions? Expand

An education restriction means a person needs some support or supervision to go to school or to study.

In the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDAC), a person's overall level of education restriction is determined by their highest level of limitation. Education restrictions include schooling and non-school educational restrictions.

Schooling restriction levels

Profound—the person's condition prevents them from attending school.

Severe—the person:

attends a special school or special classes
receives personal assistance
receives special tuition
receives assistance from a counsellor/disability support person.

Moderate—the person:

often needs time off from school
has difficulty at school because of their conditions
has special assessment procedures.

Mild—the person needs:

a special computer or other special equipment
special transport arrangements
special access arrangements
other special arrangements or support services.

Non-school educational restrictions

Severe—the person receives:

personal assistance
special tuition
assistance from a counsellor/disability support person.

Moderate—the person:

often needs time off from school/institution
has difficulty at school/institution because of their conditions
has special assessment procedures.

Mild—the person needs:

a special computer or other special equipment
special transport arrangements
special access arrangements
other special arrangements or support services.

Not all students with disability have an education restriction and a person’s level of education restriction may differ from their level of limitation in other life areas.

School students (primary and secondary)

Around 4 in 5 (81%) school students with disability have 1 or more schooling restrictions (Table 1).

The most common restrictions are:

has difficulty at school (79%)
uses special assistance from a person at school (57%)
needs special arrangements at school or institution (37%)
attends special classes (23%)
attends a special school (18%).

Boys (85%) are more likely than girls (75%) to have schooling restrictions.

Table 1: School students with disability, whether has schooling restrictions, 2015 (%)

	Boys	Girls	Total
Has schooling restriction	84.6	74.9	81.0
Does not have schooling restriction	15.4	24.6	18.6
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0

Source: ABS 2016; see also Table S1.

Non-school students

Around 2 in 5 (41%) non-school students with disability have restrictions related to their education (a non-school educational restriction) (Table 2). This includes having difficulty, needing at least 1 day a week off, and/or needing special assistance from a person at the education institution.

Table2: Non-school students with disability, whether has non-school educational restrictions, 2015 (%)

	Males	Females	Total
Has non-school educational restriction	36.1	42.6	40.6
No non-school educational restriction	63.0	57.1	59.9
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0

Source: ABS 2016; see also Table S3.

References

ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) 2016. Microdata: disability, ageing and carers, Australia, 2015. ABS cat. no. 4430.0.30.002. Canberra: ABS. AIHW analysis of TableBuilder.

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People with disability in Australia

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Education restrictions

School students (primary and secondary)

Table 1: School students with disability, whether has schooling restrictions, 2015 (%)

Non-school students

Table2: Non-school students with disability, whether has non-school educational restrictions, 2015 (%)

References

AIHW

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