Page tools:
 Print Page
 Print All
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Disability among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples In 2002, over one-third (36%) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, aged 15 years and over, had a disability or long-term health condition. The National Strategic Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health 2003–2013 was endorsed by all Australian governments in July 2003. It provides a commitment to improving Indigenous health and also recognises the impact of many economic and social factors on health status. One of the goals identified is improved services and employment assistance for Indigenous people with disabilities.(EndNote 1) PREVALENCE OF DISABILITY The 2002 NATSISS estimated that 103,000 (36%) Indigenous people aged 15 years and over, living in remote and non-remote areas, had a disability or long-term health condition. The proportion of Indigenous people with a disability was similar for both men (37%) and women (36%) and increased with age. In the 15–24 years age group, 22% of men and 24% of women had a disability or long-term health condition, increasing to 77% of men and 69% of women aged 65 years and over. The prevalence of disability or long-term health condition for the remote and non-remote Indigenous populations aged 15 years and over were the same (both 36%). These estimates of disability or long-term health condition underestimate the likely prevalence of disability. They are based on a short question set to identify people with a disability that is asked in both remote and non-remote areas rather than the broader disability question set that is only asked in non-remote areas. (See box on p.82 for more information about the measures of disability.) INDIGENOUS PERSONS(A): DISABILITY — 2002
People with a disability may be limited in their ability to perform everyday activities, sometimes needing help from others. The severity of their disability relates to how much assistance they need. People with a profound or severe limitation need assistance with at least one core activity (such as walking, toileting, dressing or communicating). In 2002, 21,800 (8%) Indigenous people aged 15 years and over had a profound or severe core activity limitation, with little difference between the rates for men and women. There was also no significant difference in the rates of profound or severe core activity limitation between Indigenous people of this age living in remote and non-remote areas of Australia (9% in remote and 7% in non-remote areas). However, women aged 65 years and over living in remote areas had higher rates of profound or severe limitation (33%) than those in non-remote areas (17%).
INDIGENOUS PERSONS(A): PROPORTION INDICATING FAIR OR POOR SELF-ASSESSED HEALTH — 2002
DISABILITY TYPES Among Indigenous people aged 15 years and over, 24% had a physical disability, 14% had a sight, hearing or speech disability and 7% had an intellectual disability. One in six (16%) had an unspecified long-term health condition requiring treatment. The prevalence of physical disability and sight, hearing and speech disability, increased steadily with age. Slightly more men than women reported a sight, hearing or speech disability, with differences most evident in the 65 years and over age group (46% of men compared with 35% of women). There was little difference in the proportions of men and women with physical or intellectual disabilities. DISABILITY AND MAJOR LIFE AREAS ...HEALTH Among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples aged 15 years and over, those with a disability or long-term health condition were far more likely to report fair or poor health (48%) than those without a disability or long-term health condition (9%). There were higher proportions of people reporting fair or poor health in older age groups, and it was in these age groups that the difference between those with a disability or long-term health condition and those without was most pronounced. In the 45–64 years age group, 65% of Indigenous people with a disability reported having fair or poor health, compared with 15% of those without a disability. For Indigenous people aged 65 years and over, the proportions were 70% and 21% respectively. INDIGENOUS PERSONS(A): HIGHEST LEVEL OF SCHOOL COMPLETED - 2002 ...EDUCATION The 2002 NATSISS collected school completion information for the 251,000 Indigenous people aged 18 years and over. In 2002, Indigenous adults with a disability completed fewer years of education, on average, than those without a disability. Excluding those still at school, 11% of Indigenous adults with a disability had completed Year 12, compared with 23% of those without a disability. At the other end of the scale, Indigenous adults with a disability were more likely to have left school after completing Year 9 or earlier (55%), than those without a disability (32%). However, for many of these people, their disability or long-term health condition would have commenced after their school years, and so there would be no direct link between disability and schooling completed. ...WORK Some limitations experienced by Indigenous people with a disability may impact on the type of work they can do and the hours they are able to work. In addition, there is a strong association between employment levels for Indigenous people and educational attainment, with the proportions of people employed increasing with the level of educational achievement.(EndNote 3) In 2002, Indigenous people aged 18 years and over with a disability or long-term health condition had completed fewer years of education, on average, than those without a disability. This factor, combined with limitations arising from their disability, may have impacted on their ability to gain employment and on the hours they were able to work. Labour force participation (working and looking for work) provides an indication of both the desire for paid work and the ability to obtain and perform such work. In 2002, Indigenous people aged 18–64 years with a disability or long-term health condition experienced lower labour force participation rates than those without a disability. The participation rate for men with a disability or long-term health condition was 60%, compared with 86% of men without a disability, while for women, the participation rates were 42% and 60% respectively. In 2002, the proportion of Indigenous people with a disability who were employed was substantially lower than for those without disability, and lower still for those with a profound or severe core activity limitation. The largest difference in employment levels was for Indigenous men aged 18–64 years, where 30% with a profound or severe limitation were employed compared with 70% with no disability. For women aged 18–64 years, the difference was also large, with 23% of those with a profound or severe limitation employed, compared with 49% with no disability or long-term health condition. INDIGENOUS PERSONS(A): LABOUR FORCE STATUS - 2002
...INCOME AND FINANCIAL STRESS Indigenous people with a disability or long-term health condition were more likely to be living in low income households than people without a disability or long-term health condition. Over half (51%) of Indigenous people aged 15 years and over with a disability were in households in the lowest income quintile, compared with two-fifths (38%) of Indigenous people without a disability. In 2002, three-quarters (76%) of Indigenous people aged 15 years and over with a profound or severe limitation and 65% of those with a disability or long-term health condition reported government pensions or allowances as their main source of income, compared with 42% of Indigenous people without a disability or long-term health condition. In 2002, financial stress was experienced by a large proportion of Indigenous people. However, those with a disability or long-term health condition were more likely to be in households experiencing financial stress. Among Indigenous people aged 15 years and over with a disability or long-term health condition, 62% were living in households that could not raise $2000 in an emergency, and 52% were in households that had experienced days without money in the last 12 months. INDIGENOUS PERSONS(A): HOUSEHOLD INCOME - 2002 INDIGENOUS PERSONS(A): INDICATORS OF FINANCIAL STRESS(B) - 2002
In 2002, 205,000 (73%) Indigenous people aged 15 years and over lived in non-remote areas, and 77,100 (27%) lived in remote areas of Australia. While the proportion of Indigenous people in this age group with a disability or long-term health condition in remote and non-remote areas was the same (both 36%), there were some differences in the characteristics of Indigenous people with a disability living in remote and non-remote areas. In 2002, of the 103,000 Indigenous people aged 15 years and over with a disability or long-term health condition, a greater proportion living in non-remote areas reported their health as poor or fair (50%) compared with those living in remote areas (43%). Looking at schooling and restricting the population to those aged 18 years and over, Indigenous adults living in non-remote areas were more likely to have completed higher levels of schooling than those living in remote areas. In non-remote areas, 12% of adults with a disability had completed school to Year 12, compared with 8% in remote areas. At the other end of the scale, 64% of Indigenous adults in remote areas with a disability did not complete school beyond Year 9, compared with 52% of their non-remote peers. Issues relating to the participation of Indigenous people with a disability in education, such as limitations on access and community expectations, are different in remote and non-remote areas and may have contributed to some of these differences. Indigenous people aged 15 years and over with a disability living in remote areas were more likely to be living in a household which experienced financial stress than those living in non-remote areas. For example, 77% from remote areas were living in a household unable to raise $2000 within a week for something important, compared with 57% in non-remote areas. INDIGENOUS PEOPLE(A) WITH A DISABILITY OR LONG-TERM HEALTH CONDITION: SELECTED INDICATORS - 2002
PERSONS IN NON-REMOTE AREAS(A): RATIO OF INDIGENOUS TO NON-INDIGENOUS DISABILITY(B)(C) — 2002
COMPARISONS WITH THE NON-INDIGENOUS POPULATION Comparisons can be drawn between the Indigenous non-remote population using the 2002 NATSISS and the non-Indigenous population using the 2002 GSS. The Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations have different age structures. This is reflected in both the differences in median age and proportions of Indigenous people aged 65 years and over. In 2001, the median age was 21 years for the Indigenous population and 36 years for the non-Indigenous population. In the same year, the proportion of Indigenous people aged 65 years and over was 3% compared with 13% of the non-Indigenous population.(EndNote 2) For this reason, data has been age standardised for the two populations. In 2002, Indigenous adults in non-remote areas were 1.4 times more likely to have a disability or long-term health condition than non-Indigenous adults and at least twice as likely to have a profound or severe core activity limitation. The difference in disability rates between these two groups peaked in the 35–44 years age group with Indigenous people in non-remote areas 1.7 times more likely to have a disability than non-Indigenous people. However, in the 65 years and over age group the proportions of people with a disability were very similar. Rates of profound and severe core activity limitation were much higher among Indigenous adults in non-remote areas in all age groups. Indigenous people in the 45–54 years age group were three and a half times more likely to have a profound or severe core activity limitation than non-Indigenous people of the same age, with the rate for Indigenous people aged 45–54 years as high as that among non-Indigenous people aged 65 years and over. This suggests that Indigenous people with a disability have a relatively higher need for assistance and disability-related services at younger ages than is the case for non-Indigenous people.(EndNote 2) Indigenous people had higher disability rates for all disability types than non-Indigenous people. The difference was greatest for intellectual disability, with Indigenous people nearly four times more likely to be limited by an intellectual disability than non-Indigenous people. PERSONS IN NON-REMOTE AREAS(A): RATIO OF INDIGENOUS TO NON-INDIGENOUS DISABILITY BY TYPE(B)(C) — 2002 ENDNOTES
2. Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2005, The Health and Welfare of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, (ABS cat. no. 4704.0), ABS, Canberra. 3. Senate Employment, Workplace Relations, Small Business and Education committee (SEWRSBEC) 2000, KatuKalpa — Report on the Inquiry into the effectiveness of education and training programs for Indigenous Australians, Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
