Table of contents:
Domain Definitions
‘Seeing’ refers to individuals using their eyes in terms of visual capacity to perceive or observe what is happening around them.
‘Hearing’ refers to individuals using their ears in terms of auditory (or hearing) capacity in knowing what is being said to them or the sounds of activity, including danger, within their immediate surroundings.
Box 7. The difference between a disability and a diagnosis
Mental illness is not a disability; it is a diagnosis; much the same way diabetes is.
Furthermore, difficulty in seeing or hearing can result from structural or functional problems in the eyes or ears, but can also be caused by problems in other body systems such as in the brain.
‘Mobility (walking or climbing stairs)’ refers to individuals using their legs in such a way as to propel themselves over the ground to get from point A to point B. The capacity to walk should be without assistance of any device or human. If such assistance is needed, the person has difficulty walking.
Furthermore, difficulties in mobility can arise from wide-ranging impairments, such as paralysis, cerebral palsy, amputation, middle-ear issues, and significant cardio-pulmonary difficulties, among others.
The kind of impairment from which any of the core domains can arise is inconsequential. The WG-SS question is only interested in the activity limitation, not the impairment related to any of the functional domains.
‘Cognition (remembering and concentration)’ refers to individuals using their memory capacity to recall facts, events, experiences or what has happened in their immediate surroundings. Individuals can recall or think again about something that has taken place in the past (either the recent past or further back). With younger people, remembering is often associated with storing facts learned in school and being able to retrieve them when needed.
Furthermore, ‘concentrating’ refers to individuals using their mental ability to accomplish such tasks as reading, calculating or learning something new, and focusing on the task at hand in order to complete it. Concentrating is the act of directing one’s full attention on one subject or focusing without distraction on one thing.
Box 8. Cognition
This includes many functions such as remembering, concentrating, decision‐making, understanding spoken and written language, finding one’s way or following a map, doing mathematical calculations, reading and thinking.
Deciding on a cross‐culturally similar function that would represent even one aspect of cognition is difficult. However, remembering and concentrating or making decisions would probably serve the cultural compatibility aspects the best.
(Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, Revision 3,(ST/ESA/STAT/SER.M/67/Rev.3), 2015, para 4.203).
Testing results from various forms of a cognition question revealed the importance of asking about remembering and concentrating in the same question. This signaled to the respondent that the intent of the question was to focus on significant difficulties, and not common everyday problems like forgetting where keys have been placed or getting to the end of a task that was considered boring or unpleasant.
‘Self-care’ refers to ‘washing all over’ and represents the process of self-cleaning the entire body (usually with soap and water) in a culture-specific manner. The activity includes washing hair and feet, and gathering the items necessary for bathing, such as soap or shampoo, a washcloth or water.
‘Self-care’ also refers to ‘dressing’ and represents all aspects of putting clothing or garments on the upper and lower body, including the feet if culturally appropriate. Gathering clothing from storage areas (i.e. closet, dressers), securing buttons, tying knots, and zipping, among others, should be considered part of the dressing activity.
Furthermore, ‘self-care’ differentiates from that of other functional domains in the WG-SS, since it is considered the most rudimentary form of participation. Members of the WG felt it was important to include it for two reasons: First, because it could identify a person with a severe functional limitation in any domain; second, because the population of people incapable of self-care is considered an important group for policy considerations.
‘Communicating’ refers to a person exchanging information or ideas with other people through language. People may communicate using their voices or making signs or writing information down. Communication can be interrupted at numerous places within the exchange process. It may, for example, involve mechanical problems like hearing or speech impairment. It may also be related to the ability of the mind to interpret the sounds that the auditory system is gathering and to recognize the words that are being used. The intention is not to include communication problems due to issues relating to non-native or unfamiliar language.