In 2002, 102,900 (36%) of Indigenous people aged 15 years or over had a disability or a long-term health condition according to the common criteria (table 5.1). Of these, 21,800 or 8% of the population aged 15 years or over had a profound or severe core activity limitation, meaning that they always or sometimes needed assistance with at least one activity of everyday living (self-care, mobility or communication).
Overall, the prevalence rate, or proportion of people with a disability or long-term health condition was similar in males (37%) and females (36%) (table 5.1). This rate increased with age for both sexes. The rates for people aged 15-44 years were similar for the two sexes, while the rates recorded for males were higher than females for people aged 45 years or over (the difference was not statistically significant). Almost three-quarters (72%) of people aged 65 years or over had a disability or long-term health condition.
The overall prevalence of profound or severe core activity limitation was similar for males and females, and generally increased with age. It was very high for people aged 65 years or over, with one-quarter (25%) of people in this age group having a profound or severe core activity limitation. Caution should be exercised when using the detailed information presented in table 5.1 to make specific comparisons, as many of the differences are not statistically significant.
5.1 Disability status by sex by age, Indigenous persons aged 15 years or over - 2002 |
|  |
| Profound or severe core activity limitation | Disability/ limitation not further defined | Total with a disability or long-term health condition | No disability or long-term health condition | Total | |
| Age (years) | no. | % | no. | % | no. | % | no. | % | no. | % | |
Males | |
| |
| 15-24 | *1 600 | 4.0 | 7 200 | 17.6 | 8 900 | 21.6 | 32 300 | 78.4 | 41 200 | 100.0 | |
| 25-34 | 2 300 | 6.9 | 7 700 | 22.9 | 10 000 | 29.8 | 23 500 | 70.2 | 33 400 | 100.0 | |
| 35-44 | 1 400 | 5.2 | 8 800 | 32.2 | 10 200 | 37.4 | 17 100 | 62.6 | 27 400 | 100.0 | |
| 45-54 | 1 900 | 10.4 | 8 000 | 43.5 | 9 900 | 53.9 | 8 500 | 46.1 | 18 500 | 100.0 | |
| 55-64 | 1 100 | 12.0 | 5 200 | 59.1 | 6 300 | 71.1 | 2 600 | 28.9 | 8 900 | 100.0 | |
| 65 or over | 1 700 | 28.7 | 2 800 | 48.0 | 4 500 | 76.7 | 1 400 | 23.3 | 5 900 | 100.0 | |
| Total | 10 000 | 7.4 | 39 800 | 29.5 | 49 800 | 36.9 | 85 400 | 63.1 | 135 200 | 100.0 | |
Females | |
| |
| 15-24 | *1 500 | 3.6 | 8 400 | 20.3 | 9 900 | 23.9 | 31 600 | 76.1 | 41 500 | 100.0 | |
| 25-34 | 1 900 | 5.0 | 8 700 | 23.2 | 10 600 | 28.2 | 27 000 | 71.8 | 37 700 | 100.0 | |
| 35-44 | 2 700 | 8.9 | 9 100 | 29.9 | 11 800 | 38.9 | 18 600 | 61.1 | 30 400 | 100.0 | |
| 45-54 | 2 800 | 14.1 | 6 300 | 31.5 | 9 100 | 45.6 | 10 800 | 54.4 | 19 900 | 100.0 | |
| 55-64 | 1 300 | 12.7 | 5 500 | 52.6 | 6 800 | 65.3 | 3 600 | 34.7 | 10 400 | 100.0 | |
| 65 or over | 1 600 | 22.3 | 3 300 | 46.6 | 4 800 | 68.8 | 2 200 | 31.2 | 7 000 | 100.0 | |
| Total | 11 800 | 8.0 | 41 300 | 28.1 | 53 100 | 36.1 | 93 900 | 63.9 | 147 000 | 100.0 | |
Persons | |
| |
| 15-24 | 3 100 | 3.8 | 15 700 | 19.0 | 18 800 | 22.7 | 63 900 | 77.3 | 82 700 | 100.0 | |
| 25-34 | 4 200 | 5.9 | 16 400 | 23.1 | 20 600 | 29.0 | 50 500 | 71.0 | 71 100 | 100.0 | |
| 35-44 | 4 100 | 7.2 | 17 900 | 31.0 | 22 000 | 38.2 | 35 700 | 61.8 | 57 800 | 100.0 | |
| 45-54 | 4 700 | 12.3 | 14 300 | 37.3 | 19 000 | 49.6 | 19 400 | 50.4 | 38 400 | 100.0 | |
| 55-64 | 2 400 | 12.4 | 10 700 | 55.6 | 13 100 | 68.0 | 6 200 | 32.0 | 19 300 | 100.0 | |
| 65 or over | 3 200 | 25.2 | 6 100 | 47.2 | 9 300 | 72.4 | 3 600 | 27.6 | 12 900 | 100.0 | |
| Total | 21 800 | 7.7 | 81 100 | 28.7 | 102 900 | 36.5 | 179 300 | 63.5 | 282 200 | 100.0 | |
| |
| * estimate has a relative standard error of 25% to 50% and should be used with caution |
| ABS, 2002 NATSISS |
While the difference between rates of profound or severe core activity limitation for total Indigenous females living in remote areas and non-remote areas is not significant (table 5.2), the difference for females aged 65 years or over (33% in remote areas and 17% in non-remote areas) is statistically significant. For males the difference between remote (39%) and non-remote areas (24%) for the same age group was not statistically significant (ABS, 2002 NATSISS).
5.2 Disability Status by sex by remoteness, Indigenous persons aged 15 years or over - 2002 |
| |
| Profound or severe core activity limitation | Total with a disability or long-term health condition(a) | |
| Males | Females | Persons | Males | Females | Persons | |
| no. | % | no. | % | no. | % | no. | % | no. | % | no. | % | |
| |
| Remote(b) | 2 900 | 7.6 | 4 000 | 10.2 | 6 900 | 8.9 | 12 700 | 33.9 | 14 600 | 36.9 | 27 300 | 35.4 | |
| Non-remote(b) | 7 200 | 7.3 | 7 800 | 7.2 | 14 900 | 7.3 | 37 100 | 38.0 | 38 500 | 35.8 | 75 600 | 36.9 | |
| Total | 10 000 | 7.4 | 11 800 | 8.0 | 21 800 | 7.7 | 49 800 | 36.9 | 53 100 | 36.1 | 102 900 | 36.5 | |
| |
| (a) Includes persons with a profound or severe core activity limitation. |
| (b) Differences between data for remote areas and non-remote areas are not statistically significant. |
| ABS, 2002 NATSISS |
Using the common criteria, disabilities and long-term health conditions have been grouped into broad disability types: physical, sensory/speech (sight, hearing or speech) and intellectual. These disability types are derived from the screening questions used to establish disability (see Appendix 5) and so cannot be related to specific disabling conditions. Also people with a psychological disability cannot be separately identified using the common criteria. A person may have more than one type of disability.
Looking at people with different disability types as a proportion of the population, 24% of Indigenous people had a physical disability or long-term health condition, 14% had a sensory/speech disability and 7% had an intellectual disability (table 5.3). This order of frequency was the same in each of the three broad age groups and for males and females, with the distribution of the three disability types being generally similar for both sexes. One in six Indigenous people (16%) had an unspecified long-term health condition (requiring treatment) which could not be coded to a disability type. The proportions of people with a physical or sensory/speech disability were higher in the older age groups.
5.3 Disability type, Indigenous persons aged 15 years or over - 2002 |
| |
| 15-44 years | 45-64 years | 65 years or over | Total | |
| no. | % | no. | % | no. | % | no. | % | |
Males | |
| |
| Sight, hearing, speech | 11 000 | 10.8 | 6 200 | 22.7 | 2 700 | 45.8 | 19 900 | 14.7 | |
| Physical | 16 000 | 15.7 | 11 400 | 41.9 | 2 900 | 50.1 | 30 400 | 22.5 | |
| Intellectual | 8 900 | 8.7 | 1 700 | 6.1 | **600 | 10.4 | 11 100 | 8.2 | |
| Type not specified | 10 000 | 9.8 | 9 900 | 36.3 | 2 300 | 39.0 | 22 200 | 16.4 | |
| Total with a disability or long-term health condition | 29 100 | 28.5 | 16 300 | 59.5 | 4 500 | 76.7 | 49 800 | 36.9 | |
Females | |
| |
| Sight, hearing, speech | 10 500 | 9.5 | 5 800 | 19.0 | 2 500 | 35.0 | 18 700 | 12.7 | |
| Physical | 20 700 | 18.9 | 11 700 | 38.5 | 3 700 | 52.9 | 36 100 | 24.6 | |
| Intellectual | 5 800 | 5.3 | 1 900 | 6.2 | *800 | 11.7 | 8 500 | 5.8 | |
| Type not specified | 11 700 | 10.7 | 9 000 | 29.5 | 3 100 | 44.5 | 23 800 | 16.2 | |
| Total with a disability or long-term health condition | 32 400 | 29.5 | 15 900 | 52.4 | 4 800 | 68.8 | 53 100 | 36.1 | |
Persons | |
| |
| Sight, hearing, speech | 21 500 | 10.2 | 12 000 | 20.7 | 5 100 | 39.9 | 38 600 | 13.7 | |
| Physical | 36 800 | 17.4 | 23 100 | 40.1 | 6 600 | 51.6 | 66 600 | 23.6 | |
| Intellectual | 14 600 | 6.9 | 3 500 | 6.1 | *1 400 | 11.1 | 19 600 | 7.0 | |
| Type not specified | 21 700 | 10.3 | 18 900 | 32.7 | 5 400 | 42.0 | 46 000 | 16.3 | |
| Total with a disability or long-term health condition | 61 500 | 29.0 | 32 200 | 55.7 | 9 300 | 72.4 | 102 900 | 36.5 | |
| |
| * estimate has a relative standard error of 25% to 50% and should be used with caution |
| ** estimate has a relative standard error greater than 50% and is considered too unreliable for general use |
| ABS, 2002 NATSISS |
Table 5.4 illustrates the statistical effect of using different criteria (common and broader) to determine the numbers of Indigenous people in non-remote areas with a disability. The total number of people in non-remote areas who reported a disability or long-term health condition using the broader criteria was 96,900 (or 47%), compared with 75,600 (or 37%) using the common criteria, an increase of 21,300 or 10% of the Indigenous population in non-remote areas. The corresponding numbers for people with a profound or severe core activity limitation were 15,700 (or 8%) compared with 14,900 (or 7%), an increase of 800 people or 1% of the non-remote population.
5.4 Common and broader disability criteria, Indigenous persons aged 15 years or over in non-remote areas - 2002 |
| |
| Profound or severe core activity limitation | Disability/ limitation not further defined | Total with a disability or long-term health condition | No disability or long-term health condition | Total | |
| Disability criteria | no. | % | no. | % | no. | % | no. | % | no. | % | |
| |
| Common | 14 900 | 7.3 | 60 700 | 29.6 | 75 600 | 36.9 | 129 500 | 63.1 | 205 100 | 100.0 | |
| Broader | 15 700 | 7.7 | 81 100 | 39.6 | 96 900 | 47.2 | 108 200 | 52.8 | 205 100 | 100.0 | |
| |
| ABS, 2002 NATSISS |
Thus some of the people categorised as having no disability or long-term condition, under the common criteria, did have a disability or long-term health condition under the broader criteria (and, in a small number of cases, had a profound or severe core activity limitation).
In non-remote areas, the inclusion of the two questions relating to psychological disability resulted in 18,700 Indigenous people reporting this disability type, 9% of the non-remote Indigenous population aged 15 years or over. The inclusion of the extra two questions relating to physical disability resulted in an additional 20,500 people reporting this disability type than under the common criteria. Since people may have disabilities of more than one type, some of the people in the above two groups may have already been identified under the common criteria as having a disability or long-term health condition of another type.
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