Mainstreaming Disability Statistics

Arguably, the easiest and most effective way to monitor people with disabilities is to include the WG-SS in all on-going data instruments, for example ‘Household Income and Expenditure Surveys,’ ‘Demographic and Health Surveys,’ and ‘Labour Force Surveys,’ among others. 

Box 21. Registered and census/household data

Countries whose registration system provides regular data on persons with the most severe types of impairments may use the census or household surveys to complement such data with information related to selected aspects of the broader concept of disability and functioning based on the ‘International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health’ (ICF).

Census or household survey data can be utilized for general planning programmes and services (prevention and rehabilitation), monitoring selected aspects of disability trends in a country, evaluation of national programmes and services concerning the equalization of opportunities, and international comparison of selected aspects of disability prevalence in countries.

Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, Revision 3, (ST/ESA/STAT/SER.M/67/Rev.3), 2015, para 4.193.

 

By leveraging the power of existing surveys and censuses, all indicators currently used by a government can be disaggregated by disability status. The inclusion of the WG-SS is expected to increase the survey time by approximately 1.25 minutes per survey, and even less if it replaces alternative yet less effective disability questions.

Furthermore, questions that become integrated into core statistical systems result in the availability of core information on disability for use by all governmental agencies and civil society. 

Mainstreaming disability data collection has several important advantages:

  • Allows for the disaggregation of existing indicators that are well understood, including for those of the SDGS;
  • Reduces, effectively, disability data collection costs by only adding a disability module into existing tools;
  • Provides a signal that the considerations of persons with disabilities are a core policy issue, rather than being tangential and suitable only for special surveys (ESCAP, 2014). 

The collection tools used for data on disability in Arab countries have varied between adding the module through a variety of household surveys or in population censuses. To avoid wasted resources, therefore, selecting an appropriate and official source for measuring disability statistics, the allocation of an appropriate budget, and the design of the questionnaire is important for monitoring purposes.

Furthermore, when the official source of data is being selected, countries need to consider survey or census periodicity (three years maximum) and the age group targeted (five years or more). Another important factor to be considered is population coverage, to which the following questions should be directed: Does the sample cover nationals and non-nationals? Nomads, migrants or refugees? Or any institutionalized population?

It should be noted that in some instances the WG-SS does not have to be added to every survey administration. For example, if a ‘Labour Force Survey’ is conducted monthly (or quarterly), it may only be necessary to include the WG-SS on one round of the survey per year.

Countries should also consider alternating two different sources, one for using the set of short questions every year in a household survey or every ten years in a census, and the WG-ES or the WG-ES ‘light’ version every three years in a household survey.