International Day for Persons with Disability: Thirtieth Anniversary

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International Day for Persons with Disability
Thirtieth Anniversary
Panel 2 Mainstreaming Disability in the Global
Development Agenda

• Jennifer H. Madans, Ph.D.
• National Center for Health Statistics, USA
• for the Washington Group on Disability Statistics

United Nations, Department of Economic and Social
Affairs New York, December 2, 2011
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Sources of Disability Data

• Different sources of data provide different kinds
  of information.
• Can be a source of confusion.
• Can provide a more comprehensive picture.
• Need to understand advantages and limitations of
  each source.
• Need to optimize the quality of data from each
  source.

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Sources of Disability Data

• Registries
• Censuses
• Surveys

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Past Challenges

• Long-standing tradition of collecting disability
  information, however
• The complexity of disability concepts leads to
  confusing data.
• Data collection methods have a major impact on
  resulting data.
• Wide variations in population defined as
  disabled.
• Data collections are often funder-initiated.

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Moving Forward

• Acknowledgement of the need for high quality
  information at national level that is also
  comparable across countries.
• UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with
  Disability
• World Report on Disability

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Moving Forward

• Incorporation of disability into ongoing national
  data collections.
• Joint development of standardized and tested
  measures for use in countries.
• Provision of technical assistance through
  workshops, meetings and site visits in order to
  facilitate the adoption of the question sets
• Analyses of the resulting data.

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The Washington Group on Disability Statistics
(WG) Initial Objectives

• To guide the development of a small set of
  general disability measures suitable for
  censuses,
• To recommend one or more extended sets of items
  to measure disability in population surveys or
  supplements,
• To use the ICF model as a framework to assist in
  the development of the measures, and
• To address methodological issues associated with
  disability measurement.

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The WG 11 Years and Counting

• The WG has held 11 meetings to date in all
  regions of the world
• Washington DC, Ottawa, Brussels, Bangkok, Rio de
  Janeiro, Kampala, Dublin, Manila, Dar el Salaam,
  Luxembourg, Bermuda
• NSO representatives from 116 countries have
  participated
• Current members include 109 NSOs, 7 international
  organizations, 6 DPOs, the UNSD and other U.N.
  affiliates
• Held two regional workshops Africa and Latin
  America
• Participated in five other regional workshops
• Conducted cognitive testing of the short set
  questions in 15 countries, and the extended set
  in 15 countries
• On-going provision of technical assistance,
  methodological training and fostering of
  international cooperation

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WG Products

• Short Set (SS)
• Set of six disability questions recommended for
  inclusion on national censuses
• SS adopted in 2006
• Now recommended for use in all national censuses
  in the UN Principles and Recommendations for
  Population and Housing Censuses

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Countries Who Have Tested or Used WG Short Set of
Census Questions

• Argentina, Armenia, Bermuda, Brazil
• Cambodia, Canada, China, Democratic Republic of
  the Congo
• Fiji, Egypt, Gambia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala
• Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel,
  Ivory Coast
• Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lesotho, Lithuania
• Malawi, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia,
  Mozambique
• Oman, Palestine, Panama, Paraguay, Peru,
  Philippines
• Poland, Romania, Rwanda
• Sierra Leone, Slovenia, South Africa, Sri Lanka
• Tanzania, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United
  States
• Venezuela, Vietnam, Zambia 

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Countries Using the WG SS (or variants) in
Current Census Cycles (n31)

• Argentina
• Aruba
• Bangladesh
• Brazil
• Chad
• China
• Costa Rica
• Czech Republic
• Fiji
• Israel
• Italy
• Ivory Coast
• Kazakhstan
• Malawi
• Mexico
• Mozambique
• Netherlands
• Oman
• Palestine

• Information based on 2009, 2010, and 2011 country
  reports Countries including the SS in their
  recent Census

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WG Products, continued

• Extended Sets (ES)
• ES on Functioning (ES-F) adopted in 2010
• Will provide broader survey measures of this
  population
• Additional ES on Children, Environment, and
  Participation are currently under development and
  testing
• Methodological work to assess the measures and
  their performance as they are incorporated into
  data collections.

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Final Rounds of Standardized Testing

• WG/BI/UNESCAP Testing 2009
• Cognitive tests in 9 countries (Mongolia,
  Maldives, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Cambodia,
  Kazakhstan, United States, Canada, South Africa)
• Field tests in 6 countries (Mongolia, Maldives,
  Sri Lanka, Philippines, Cambodia, Kazakhstan)
• WG/BI European Testing 2010
• Cognitive tests in 7 countries (France, Germany,
  Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, United
  States)
• Questions added to the 2010 U.S. National Health
  Interview Survey

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WG Products, continued

• Reports completed
• Disability Information from Censuses, prepared
  for DPOs
• Development of an Internationally Comparable
  Disability Measure for Censuses, prepared for
  NSOs
• Monitoring the UN Convention on the Rights of
  Persons with Disability
• Understanding and Interpreting Disability as
  Measured using the WG Short Set of Questions
• The Measurement of Disability Recommendations
  for the 2010 Round of Censuses
• Draft report prepared
• Development of Extended Sets of Disability
  Measures for Surveys

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Standardized Data Collection Facilitates Reporting

• Using standardized questions makes it possible to
  provide comparable data cross-nationally for
  populations living in a variety of cultures with
  varying economic resources
• Data can be used to assess a countrys compliance
  with the UN Convention and, over time, their
  improvement in meeting the requirements set out
  under the Convention.