Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2019. People with disability in Australia. Cat. no. DIS 72. Canberra: AIHW. Viewed 21 February 2020, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/disability/people-with-disability-in-australia
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
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
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. People with disability in Australia [Internet]. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2019 [cited 2020 Feb. 21]. Available from: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/disability/people-with-disability-in-australia
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2019, People with disability in Australia, viewed 21 February 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
47% of adults with disability have experienced violence after the age of 15, compared with 36% without disability.
32% of adults with disability experience high/very high psychological distress, compared with 8% without disability.
24% of adults with disability experience very good or excellent health, compared with 65% of without disability.
48% of working-age (aged 15–64) people with disability are employed, compared with 79% without disability.
People with disability may have specific housing-related needs. This can include modifying their dwelling, moving to more suitable accommodation, or moving closer to other services.
Data in this section are largely sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) 2015 Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDAC). The SDAC is the most detailed and comprehensive source of disability prevalence in Australia.
The SDAC considers that a person has disability if they have at least 1 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 if 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 1 or more core activities are referred to in this section as ‘people with severe or profound disability’.
Detailed data tables are available online at Data.
More information on the ABS SDAC is available on the ABS SDAC website.
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