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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.