Disability facts and terms

• Disability statistics
• Glossary of terms
• Types of disabilities

Disability statistics

Queenslanders with disability

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 17.9% of Queenslanders, or just under 1 in every 5 people, have a disability. Over 150,000 Queenslanders have a severe disability and require help or assistance with self-care, mobility or communication needs.

There has been a decline in the number of Queenslanders with disability caused by physical health conditions such as arthritis and back problems in recent years. Queensland has a lower incidence of disability than states including Tasmania, South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria.

Australians with disability

Research from the Survey of Disability, Australia, 2009, and the Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers, 2009, indicates that 4 million people in Australia (18.5% of the population) have a disability. This includes:

• 3.4% of children aged 0-4
• 8.6% of people aged 25-34
• 40.1% of people aged 65-69
• 88.3% of people aged 90 years and over.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability

Research published in The Health and Welfare of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, 2010 indicates that in 2008:

• 258,500 (50%) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years or over had a disability or a long-term health condition
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults were 1½ times as likely as non-Indigenous Australian adults to have a disability or long-term health condition.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were twice as likely as non-Indigenous Australians to require care, services and assistance to meet their self-care, mobility or communication needs in 2008. Around 1 in 12 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people required support with everyday activities at this time.

The most common types of disability or long-term conditions for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are:

• physical disabilities, such as paraplegia and quadriplegia. More than 105,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had a physical disability in 2008.
• disabilities or long-term conditions that restrict everyday activities or require treatment and medication, including Alzheimer's disease, dementia, arthritis and heart disease. More than 79,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had a restrictive disability or long-term condition in 2008.
• sight, hearing or speech disabilities, such as blindness and deafness. More than 55,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had a sight, hearing or speech disability in 2008.
• psychological disabilities, such as schizophrenia and depression. More than 25,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had a psychological disability in 2008.
• intellectual disabilities. More than 25,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had an intellectual disability in 2008.

Research from the 2008 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey and the 2007-08 National Health Survey shows a gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous health outcomes in Australia-with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people being more likely than non-Indigenous people to have disabilities of all types. Specifically, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are:

• more than 3 times as likely to have an intellectual disability
• more than twice as likely to have a long-term condition or disability that means they require support meeting self-care, communication or mobility needs

• more than twice as likely to have a psychological disability.

Disability type by population

Commonwealth-State/Territory Disability Agreement funded services

In 2008-09, there were 279,374 Australians with disability who used government and non-government funded services*.

Primary disability types of those who received funded services are broken down below. It's important to note that not all people with disability receive services from government or non-government funded organisations. A person with a primary disability may also have secondary disabilities.

(*Funded services are those provided by approved service providers under the Commonwealth-State/Territory Disability Agreement (CSTDA)-now the National Disability Agreement.)

More information about this topic is available.

Carers and support

People with disability needed care, services and assistance in the following ways in 2009:

• 39% needed assistance with mobility
• 25% needed assistance with self-care
• 46% needed assistance with health care
• 63% of Australians aged 60 and over did not need any help with performing daily activities. Older Australians who did require help commonly asked for support with maintaining a home or property and mobility assistance.

In Queensland, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, about 494,200 people-or 11.4% of the state's population, were carers in 2009. In Australia, an estimated 2.6 million unpaid carers help people with disability, or the aged. Of these, about 750,000 are primary carers-offering the majority of informal help to people with a disability or the aged. In 2009, over two-thirds of primary carers (68%) were women.

There has been an increase in people with disability using different aids in recent years. Research from the Survey of Disability, Australia, 2009, shows that since 2003, people with disability have become:

• more likely to use communication aids, including hearing aids and cochlear implants, as well as mobile phones
• more likely to use mobility aids, including walking frames and walking sticks
• more likely to use self-care aids, such as aids to help with activities including showering, eating, dressing and going to the bathroom.

Further information

The Australian Bureau of Statistics or the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare can provide further statistics on disability in Australia.

Glossary of terms

Types of disabilities

Definitions are sourced from the Australian Disability Clearinghouse on Education and Training.

Acquired brain injury

The effects of an acquired brain injury can be minor, occurring over a short period of time, or can be severe and lifelong. This may be caused by accidents, stroke, lack of oxygen and degenerative neurological disease. This type of disability can affect cognitive, physical, emotional and sensory functioning.

Autism spectrum disorder

Autism spectrum disorders are lifelong developmental disability characterised by marked difficulties in social interaction, impaired communication, restricted and repetitive interests and behaviours and sensory sensitivities.

Developmental delay

Developmental delay occurs if a child develops at a slower pace when compared to other children of the same age. Indicators might be how they move, communicate, learn, understand or interact with other children.

Intellectual disability

The term ‘intellectual disability' refers to a group of conditions caused by various genetic disorders and infections. These conditions result in a limitation or slowness in an individual's general ability to learn and difficulties in communicating and retaining information. As with all disability groups, there are many types of intellectual disability with varying degrees of severity.

Physical disability

A number of conditions, some of which are permanent, others of a temporary or intermittent nature, may impair physical activity and mobility. These conditions include cerebral palsy, arthritis, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson's disease and repetitive strain injury (RSI).

Psychiatric disability

Psychiatric disabilities may be transitory or of longer standing with symptoms ranging from mild and episodic to severe and ongoing. There are wide ranges of psychiatric disabilities and these can impair a person's functioning in normal social activities. Conditions of a psychiatric nature could include schizophrenia, stress, psychosis and depression.

Sensory disability

Sensory disabilities affect how people interact with the world around them, the most common being hearing loss, vision impairment or speech impairment.