People with disability in Australia

This report uses data from the 2022 Australia's Disability Strategy Survey – Share with us (the Survey). The Survey is conducted by the Australian National University Centre for Social Research and Methods in partnership with the Social Research Centre, on behalf of the Australian Government Department of Social Services (DSS). The Survey collects information on experiences of people with disability, and attitudes towards people with disability by employers, workers in key service sectors, and the community in general. The Survey collects information from people aged 18 and over.

Disability: In the Survey, a person is considered to have disability if they have one or more conditions (including long-term health conditions) which have lasted, or are likely to last, for at least 6 months and restrict everyday activities.

1. The Survey uses a version of the ABS Short Disability Module (SDM) to identify the presence of disability or a long-term health condition. While this module provides useful information about the characteristics of people with disability relative to those without, it is not recommended for use in measuring disability prevalence – in particular, it overestimates the number of people with less severe forms of disability (ABS 2018).
2. The Survey also asks people who were identified to have disability or a long-term health condition via SDM whether they have any disability or a long-term health condition. Not all people identified to have disability via SDM consider that they have disability.

In this report (for the analysis of experiences when accessing key services), people with disability are defined as those who both self-identified as having disability, and were identified as having disability via the SDM.

For more information about the Survey, please see the Survey description on Reporting on Australia's Disability Strategy 2021–2031 website.

This report uses data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2019 General Social Survey (GSS). The GSS collects information on the social characteristics, wellbeing and social experiences of people aged 15 and over living in private dwellings in Australia.

Disability: In the GSS a person is considered to have disability if they have one or more conditions (including long-term health conditions) which have lasted, or are likely to last, for at least 6 months and restrict everyday activities.

The GSS uses the ABS Short Disability Module (SDM) to identify disability. While this module provides useful information about the characteristics of people with disability relative to those without, it is not recommended for use in measuring disability prevalence – in particular, it overestimates the number of people with less severe forms of disability (ABS 2018). The SDM produces an estimate of disability known as ‘disability or long-term health condition’. In the analyses based on the GSS data in this report, people with disability or long-term health condition are referred to as ‘people with disability’.

Disability severity: Disability is further classified by whether a person has limitation or restriction in 3 core activities – self-care, mobility, and communication. People who always or sometimes need help with one or more core activities are referred to in this report as ‘people with severe or profound disability’. People who have disability but do not need help or supervision with core activities are referred to as people with ‘other disability status’.

The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey is a nationally representative, household-based longitudinal study of Australian households and individuals conducted in annual waves since 2001. Members of selected households who are Australian residents and aged 15 or older are invited to participate in a personal interview. This report uses data from the 21st wave of the HILDA Survey (2021). In 2021, 16,500 people from around 9,000 households participated in the HILDA Survey.

Impact of COVID-19 on HILDA 2021 data collection: The HILDA 2021 data collection was affected by lockdowns and restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the interviews were primarily conducted over the telephone rather than face-to-face (76% of the individual interviews were completed by telephone in wave 21, compared with 96% in wave 20 and less than 10% in earlier waves). Overall, the 2021 data was found to be of similar quality to the previous waves despite the changes to data collection (Watson et al. 2022).

Self-Completion Questionnaire: In addition to personal interviews, survey participants are asked to complete a self-completion questionnaire. The questionnaire covers sensitive questions some people may not feel entirely comfortable answering in an interview.

Disability: The HILDA Survey defines disability as an impairment, long-term health condition or disability that restricts everyday activities and has lasted, or is likely to last, for a period of 6 months or more. This is similar to the definition of disability used by the ABS Short Disability Module. 

Disability severity: Disability is further classified by whether a person has limitation or restriction in 3 core activities – self-care, mobility, and communication. People who always or sometimes need help with one or more core activities are referred to in this report as ‘people with severe or profound disability’. People who have disability but do not need help or supervision with core activities are referred to as people with ‘other disability status’.

The HILDA Survey does not collect information on severity of disability in every wave. The most recent collection was in the 21st wave (2021) (Summerfield et al. 2021; Wilkins et al. 2023).

Disability group: Disability group is a broad categorisation of disability. It is based on underlying health conditions and on impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions. It is not a diagnostic grouping, nor is there a one-to-one correspondence between a health condition and a disability group. 

The HILDA Survey collects information on 17 disability types, which have been combined into the following 6 disability groups:

• sensory: includes sight, hearing, and speech problems
• intellectual: includes difficulty learning or understanding things
• physical: includes difficulty breathing, blackouts, chronic pain, limited use of arms or fingers, difficulty gripping things, limited use of feet or legs, physical restrictions, and disfigurement or deformity
• psychosocial: includes nervous or emotional conditions, and mental illness
• head injury, stroke or other brain damage
• other: includes long-term conditions that are restrictive despite treatment or medication, and other long-term conditions.

Remoteness: The remoteness categories used in HILDA are based on the Australian Statistical Geography Standard Remoteness Area (Summerfield et al. 2021). People living in remote and sparsely populated areas are not included in the HILDA sample (Watson and Wooden 2002).

This report uses data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2018–19 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS). The NATSIHS was designed to collect information about the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of all ages in non-remote and remote areas of Australia, including discrete Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Disability: In the NATSIHS a person is considered to have disability if they have one or more conditions (including long-term health conditions) which have lasted, or are likely to last, for at least 6 months and restrict everyday activities.

The NATSIHS uses the ABS Short Disability Module (SDM) to identify disability. While this module provides useful information about the characteristics of people with disability relative to those without, it is not recommended for use in measuring disability prevalence – in particular, it overestimates the number of people with less severe forms of disability (ABS 2018). The SDM produces an estimate of disability known as ‘disability or long-term health condition’. In the analyses based on the NATSIHS data in this report, people with disability or long-term health condition are referred to as ‘people with disability’.

Disability severity: Disability is further classified by whether a person has limitation or restriction in 3 core activities – self-care, mobility, and communication. People who always or sometimes need help with one or more core activities are referred to in this report as ‘people with severe or profound disability’. People who have disability but do not need help or supervision with core activities are referred to as people with ‘other disability status’.

This report uses data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2014–15 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS). The NATSISS collects information from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in private dwellings across Australia on a range of demographic, social, environmental and economic characteristics.

Disability: In the NATSISS a person is considered to have disability if they have one or more conditions (including long-term health conditions) which have lasted, or are likely to last, for at least 6 months and restrict everyday activities.

The NATSISS uses the ABS Short Disability Module (SDM) to identify disability. While this module provides useful information about the characteristics of people with disability relative to those without, it is not recommended for use in measuring disability prevalence – in particular, it overestimates the number of people with less severe forms of disability (ABS 2018). The SDM produces an estimate of disability known as ‘disability or long-term health condition’. In the analyses based on the NATSISS data in this report, people with disability or long-term health condition are referred to as ‘people with disability’.

Disability severity: Disability is further classified by whether a person has limitation or restriction in 3 core activities – self-care, mobility, and communication. People who always or sometimes need help with one or more core activities are referred to in this report as ‘people with severe or profound disability’. People who have disability but do not need help or supervision with core activities are referred to as people with ‘other disability status’.

This report uses data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) National Health Survey (NHS) 2020–21. The NHS collects information on prevalence of long-term health conditions, general and mental health, and health risk factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption, diet, and physical activity (ABS 2022).

Impact of COVID-19 on the 2020–21 NHS data collection: The NHS 2020–21 was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. To maintain the safety of survey respondents and ABS interviewers, the survey was primarily collected via online, self-completed forms (ABS 2022). This is different to the previous versions of the NHS which have primarily been administered face-to-face by trained ABS interviewers and included physical measurements of blood pressure, height, weight, and waist circumference.

COVID-19 also had an impact on survey response rates. Non-response is usually reduced through interviewer follow up of households who have not responded. As this was not possible during lockdown periods, there were lower response rates than previous NHS cycles, which impacted sample representativeness for some sub-populations. Additionally, COVID-19 and lockdowns might have directly or indirectly affected people’s usual behaviour over the 2020–21 period. Due to these changes, comparisons of the NHS 2020–21 to previous NHS data over time are not recommended (ABS 2022).

Proxy responses: In some cases, NHS 2020–21 survey questions were not answered by the selected person directly, but by a parent, guardian or proxy respondent instead.

• For children aged 0–14, survey questions were always answered by a parent or guardian on the child’s behalf. 
• For people aged 15–17, parental or guardian consent was sought for the selected person to answer the questions. Where consent was not given a parent or guardian answered the questions on the selected person’s behalf. For people aged 15–17 with disability, 74% of responses were by parent or guardian, and 79% for those without disability. 
• For adults aged 18 and over, proxy responses were accepted if the selected adult was present while the proxy respondent answered the questions. This was the case for 19% of adults with disability and 16% of adults without disability.

Disability: In the NHS a person is considered to have disability if they have one or more conditions (including long-term health conditions) which have lasted, or are likely to last, for at least 6 months and restrict everyday activities.

The NHS uses the ABS Short Disability Module (SDM) to identify disability. While this module provides useful information about the characteristics of people with disability relative to those without, it is not recommended for use in measuring disability prevalence – in particular, it overestimates the number of people with less severe forms of disability (ABS 2018). The SDM produces an estimate of disability known as ‘disability or long-term health condition’. In the analyses based on the NHS data in this report, people with disability or long-term health condition are referred to as ‘people with disability’. See also Disability severity for more information on how the definition of disability in this report differs from the report’s previous versions.

Disability severity: Disability is further classified by whether a person has a limitation or restriction in 3 core activities (self-care, mobility, and communication), and/or in schooling or employment. People who always or sometimes need help with one or more core activities are referred to as ‘people with severe or profound disability’. In this report, ‘other disability status’ includes those who have:

• mild or moderate core activity limitations (have difficulties with core activities or use aids to perform those activities but do not need assistance)
• a schooling or employment restriction only
• disability or long-term health condition but no core activity limitations or schooling or employment restrictions.

In previous versions of this People with disability in Australia report, people with disability or long-term condition but without core activity limitations or schooling or employment restrictions were included in the ‘without disability or restrictive long-term health condition’ category. Therefore, findings in this report are not comparable to previous versions.

The NHS collects data from people in private dwellings and does not include people living in institutional settings, such as aged care facilities. Therefore, it may underestimate disability for some groups, such as people aged 65 and over, and those with severe or profound disability.

Disability group: Disability group is a broad categorisation of disability. It is based on underlying health conditions and on impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions. It is not a diagnostic grouping, nor is there a one-to-one correspondence between a health condition and a disability group. Disability groups are not exclusive, and people may have disabilities from more than one disability group.

The NHS identifies 6 disability groups:

• sensory and speech
• intellectual
• physical restriction
• psychosocial
• head injury, stroke or acquired brain injury
• other (ABS 2022).

Remoteness: The remoteness categories used in the ABS NHS are defined by the Australian Statistical Geography Standard Remoteness Structure (ABS 2016). Remoteness Areas divide Australia into 5 classes of remoteness based on a measure of relative access to services. Very remote areas are out of scope for the NHS.

This report uses data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) 2021–22 Personal Safety Survey (PSS). The PSS collects information about experiences of violence, abuse, sexual harassment, and general feelings of safety. The 2021–22 PSS scope includes people aged 18 and over living in households and excludes people living in very remote areas.

Impact of COVID-19 on the 2021–22 PSS data collection: The COVID-19 pandemic and associated government responses resulted in several postponements and adjustments to the planned PSS data collection. The adjustments included reduction of the survey content, and of sample sizes to balance priorities across the survey program. While the reduced sample can still be used to report against the key indicators, some more detailed data are unable to be reported (ABS 2023).

Proxy responses: Proxy interviews with a guardian or carer were conducted for some parts of the 2021–22 PSS questionnaire if the selected person could not communicate independently with the interviewer. However, sensitive questions about experiences of violence were not asked during proxy interviews. This may have an impact on the information about people with more severe forms of disability but does not impact the overall representativeness of people with disability in the PSS sample (ABS 2023).

Disability: In the PSS a person is considered to have disability if they have a limitation, restriction or impairment which have lasted, or is likely to last, for at least 6 months and restricts everyday activities.

The PSS uses the ABS Short Disability Module (SDM) to identify disability. While this module provides useful information about the characteristics of people with disability relative to those without, it is not recommended for use in measuring disability prevalence (ABS 2018). The SDM produces an estimate of disability known as ‘disability or long-term health condition’. In the analyses based on the PSS data in this report, people with disability or long-term health condition are referred to as ‘people with disability’.

Disability severity: In the PSS disability is further classified by whether a person has a limitation or restriction in one or more of the 3 core activities (self-care, mobility, and communication), and/or in schooling or employment:

• severe or profound disability (people who always or sometimes need help with one or more core activities)
• moderate or mild disability (people who have difficulties with one or more core activities, use aids, but do not need help, or are unable to perform additional mobility tasks) 
• education or employment restriction only (people with education or employment restrictions who do not have core activity limitations) 
• no limitation or specific restriction (people who have a disability or long-term health condition, but have no core activity limitations and no education or employment restrictions are referred to as ‘people with no limitation or specific restriction).

Disability group: Disability group is a broad categorisation of disability. It is based on underlying health conditions and on impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions. It is not a diagnostic grouping, nor is there a one-to-one correspondence between a health condition and a disability group. Disability groups are not exclusive, and people may have disabilities from more than one disability group.  

The PSS 2021–22 identifies 6 disability groups (referred to as ‘disability types’ in the PSS User Guide (ABS 2023):

• sensory and speech (including loss of sight, loss of hearing, and speech difficulties)
• learning and understanding
• physical restriction (disability arising from shortness of breath, chronic or recurring pain, blackouts, seizures or loss of consciousness, limited use of arms or fingers, difficulty gripping things, limited use of legs or feet, restrictions in physical activity or physical work, and disfigurement or deformity)
• psychosocial (disability arising from nervous or emotional conditions, memory problems or periods of confusion, social or behavioural difficulties, and mental illness). Psychosocial disability category replaced the narrower in scope psychological disability category used in the 2012 and 2016 PSS. Psychosocial disability includes the new categories of ‘Memory problems or periods of confusion’ and ‘Social or behavioural difficulties’.
• head injury, stroke or acquired brain injury
• other (disability arising from other long-term conditions).

This report uses data from Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) 2018 The Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDAC). The SDAC is the most detailed and comprehensive source of data on disability prevalence in Australia.

Proxy responses: In some cases, SDAC 2018 survey questions were not answered by the selected person directly, but by a parent, guardian or proxy respondent instead.

• For children aged 0–14, survey questions were always answered by a parent or guardian on the child’s behalf. 
• For people aged 15–17, parental or guardian consent was sought for the selected person to answer the questions. Where consent was not given a parent or guardian answered the questions on the selected person’s behalf. For people aged 15–17 with disability, 87% of responses were by parent or guardian. 
• For adults aged 18 and over, proxy responses were collected if the selected person was unable to answer themself due to illness, impairment, injury or language problems. This was the case for 13% of adults with disability.

Disability: the SDAC considers that a person has disability if they have at least one 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.

Disability severity: Disability is further classified by whether a person has a limitation or restriction in 3 core activities (self-care, mobility, and communication), and/or in schooling or employment. People who always or sometimes need help with one or more core activities, have difficulty understanding or being understood by family or friends, or can communicate more easily using sign language or other non-spoken forms of communication are referred to in this report as ‘people with severe or profound disability’. People who have disability but do not need help or supervision with core activities are referred to as people with ‘other disability status’.

Disability group: Disability group is a broad categorisation of disability. It is based on underlying health conditions and on impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions. It is not a diagnostic grouping, nor is there a one-to-one correspondence between a health condition and a disability group. 

The SDAC broadly groups disabilities depending on whether they relate to functioning of the mind or the senses, or to anatomy or physiology. Each disability group may refer to a single disability or be composed of a number of broadly similar disabilities. The SDAC identifies 6 disability groups based on particular types of disability:

• sensory and speech disability group (includes loss of sight, loss of hearing, and speech difficulties disability types)
• intellectual disability group (difficulty learning or understanding)
• physical disability group (includes disability arising from shortness of breath or breathing difficulties, blackouts, seizures of loss of consciousness; chronic or recurrent pain or discomfort, incomplete use of arms or fingers, difficulty gripping or holding things, incomplete use of feet or legs, restriction in physical activities or physical work, and disfigurement or deformity)
• psychosocial (includes disability arising from nervous or emotional conditions, mental illness, memory problems, and social or behavioural difficulties)
• head injury, stroke or acquired brain injury
• other (restrictions in everyday activities due to other long-term conditions or ailments) (ABS 2019).

Remoteness: The remoteness categories used in the SDAC are defined by the Australian Statistical Geography Standard Remoteness Structure (ABS 2016). Remoteness Areas divide Australia into 5 classes of remoteness on the basis of a measure of relative access to services. Very remote areas are out of scope for the SDAC.

ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) (2016) Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS): Volume 5 – remoteness structure, July 2016, ABS cat. no. 1270.0.55.005, accessed 4 August 2021.

ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) (2018) ABS sources of disability information, 2012–2016, ABS cat. no. 4431.0.55.002, ABS, accessed 16 May 2023. 

ABS (2019) Disability, Ageing and Carers, Australia: Summary of Findings methodology, 2018, ABS, accessed 24 July 2023.

ABS (2022) National Health Survey: First Results methodology, 2020–21, ABS, accessed 15 May 2023.

ABS (2023) Personal Safety Survey, User guide, 2021–22, ABS, accessed 5 December 2023.

Summerfield M, Garrard B, Nesa MK, Kamath R, Macalalad N, Watson N, Wilkins R and Wooden M (2021) HILDA user manual – Release 21, Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic and Social Research, University of Melbourne, accessed 4 May 2023.

Watson N, Nesa MK and Summerfield M (2022) ‘Wave 21 data quality’, HILDA Discussion Paper Series, Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic and Social Research, University of Melbourne, accessed 24 May 2023.

Watson N and Wooden M (2002) The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey: Wave 1 Survey Methodology, HILDA Technical Paper Series No. 1/02, May 2002 [revised October 2002], accessed 9 February 2024.

Wilkins R, Vera-Toscano E and Botha F (2023) The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey: selected findings from Waves 1 to 21, Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research, University of Melbourne, accessed 23 February 2023.