Statistics on discrimination, abuse and neglect, and social and community participation for people with disability.
8 October 2024
On Thursday 4 July 2024 the Australian Bureau of Statistics released the findings from their 2022 Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers.
The survey considered a person to have disability if they have any limitation, restriction or impairment which restricts everyday activities and has lasted, or is likely to last, for six months or more.
Statistics play an important role in helping governments understand what policies and programs are working, or not working. Governments use this information to target their resources where improvement is needed. It will also influence funding decisions and where the government chooses to invest.
This is our second blog post unpacking some of the ABS findings related to disability. Our first blog post looked at the number and rates of disability, and employment and education.
This post looks at some of the statistics on discrimination, abuse and neglect, and the social and community participation for people with disability.
For over four and a half years our disability community shared with the Disability Royal Commission (DRC) the violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation we have endured and continue to experience. Of the 172 recommendations for which the federal government has primary or shared responsibility with the states, only 13 have been fully accepted. While these may lead to some minor adjustments, they fall short of the massive shift needed to end abuse, neglect and violence people with disability endure.
You can read PWDA's initial reactions to the government response to the DRC in our media release.
Disability discrimination
Disability discrimination occurs when individuals with a disability are treated unfairly because of their disability.
In 2022, concerning statistics showed:
- 1 in 10 people with a disability (9.9%) reported experiencing discrimination.
- Females (10.6%) were slightly more likely to face discrimination than males (9.1%).
- Young people aged 15-34 years (17.6%) were particularly affected, facing significantly higher rates of discrimination compared to those aged 65 years and over (3.9%).
- LGB+ individuals with disability faced discrimination at almost three times the rate of their heterosexual counterparts (27.7% vs. 8.7%).
The severity of a person's disability also impacted their likelihood of encountering discrimination. Those with profound or severe limitations (19%) were more frequently targeted than those with mild or moderate limitations (6.8%). The statistics show that little has changed since 2018.
Common sources of discrimination for all people with disability included service staff (38.6%), strangers (30.3%), and their employers (24.5%).
For people with disability who are currently employed, the most common source of discrimination reported was at the workplace by their employers (40.2%), or work colleagues (37.7%). These rates have remained largely unchanged since 2018.
It is unacceptable that people with disability are continuing to experience high rates of discrimination, and that little has changed since 2018. It is particularly concerning that people with disability continue to experience significant discrimination in the workplace - employment is a significant economic, social and community inclusion measure. The persistence of discriminatory attitudes in the workplace profoundly undermines efforts at improving community inclusion, and the sense of wellbeing, safety and belonging for people with disability that comes with that
Challenging ableist and discriminatory attitudes in the workplace must be a key priority of all governments.
Abuse and neglect of people with disability
For the first time in 2022, the survey also explored experiences of physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect. This sensitive topic was voluntary, and around a third of respondents opted not to answer these questions.
Among those who participated:
- 11.4% of people with a disability reported experiencing at least one form of abuse or neglect in the past year.
- 3.5% experienced two or more forms of abuse or neglect.
- 4.5% faced physical abuse, while 9.1% experienced emotional abuse.
- 1.5% reported being neglected.
Females with disability were more likely than males to report abuse or neglect (12.5% vs. 9.8%), with emotional abuse being particularly common (10.4% of females vs. 7.4% of males). Younger people (18-44 years) also reported higher rates of abuse or neglect (17.6%) compared to those aged 65+ (5.6%).
PWDA is concerned the current statistics do not tell the whole story and that the rate of abuse and neglect are significantly underreported. However, by any measure, it is unacceptable that almost 12% of people with disability have endured abuse and neglect.
These findings, supported by extensive stories and experiences provided to the Disability Royal Commission, identify an urgent ongoing need for greater protections and support for people with disabilities from abuse and neglect.
Social and community participation
Social engagement is a very important aspect of the lives of people with disability. In 2022, of the 4.8 million Australians aged 15 years and over with disability
- 68.9% had seen family or friends outside their household at least once a week in the past three months.
- 5.6% had not seen any family or friends outside their household during that period.
- However, almost all people with disability (96%) maintained contact with family or friends via non-visit methods like phone calls, texts, or emails. Phone calls were the most common form (94.5%), followed by texting (77.3%) and video calls (37.3%).
When it came to satisfaction with social and community participation, nearly two-thirds (63.9%) of respondents said they were satisfied all or most of the time. Additionally, 71.5% of people said they leave their home as often as they would like.
For those who didn't leave home as often as they wished, the main reasons were their disability or condition (32.9%), fear or anxiety (14.6%), and cost (11.6%).
Barriers to social participation were reported by 63.3% of people with disability, with the most common challenges being their own disability (43.1%), cost (41.2%), and COVID-19-related concerns (40.8%). Accessibility issues and transport difficulties were also highlighted.
These barriers often impacted activities like socialising at someone else's home (43.2%), visiting restaurants or cafes (35.7%), and participating in physical activities for sport or recreation (34.3%).
This shows governments can support inclusive communities and environments by actively seeking to remove barriers like the lack of accessible transport, costs related to travel generally, and removing physical barriers in environments and infrastructure. Environments should be made accessible and promoted as such - including ensuring accessible public toilets are available and clearly marked.
Given the vital importance of social and community participation for wellbeing, disability supports should factor in community participation. This could involve a NDIS participant considering what they need for inclusion in their NDIS plan as well as enhancing social and community participation through other Foundational Supports.
For a full outline of the updated statistics head to the Australian Bureau of Statistics website.
The ABS have also released the findings in accessible formats including:
