Article

How many people with disabilities are in the world? How is disability
defined? How can we measure disability in an accurate and comparable way? These
are some of the key questions which the recently published World Bank/WHO World
Report on Disability (WRD) addresses. METHOD: Multiple data sources and methods
were used by WHO and the World Bank to estimate a global figure, with the ICF as
the underlying data standard. Key international data sources were the World
Health Survey of 2002-2004 and the 2004 updates from the Global Burden of Disease
study. The World Report on Disability also includes a compilation of
country-reported prevalence from census and surveys. This paper presents and
discusses key findings of the Irish National Disability Survey (2006) to
illustrate the value of the ICF framework for disability statistics and most
especially the environmental factors component. RESULTS: The World Report
estimates that globally one billion people or 15% of the world's population
experience disabilities. Between 110-190 million people (2% of the world's
population) experience severe or extreme difficulties in functioning. Definitions
and measures of disability vary widely across countries. The Irish Disability
Survey shows the substantial impact of environmental factors on people's
functioning. For example, attitudes, and the presence or absence of facilitating
equipment, support services, flexible working arrangements and transport
significantly affect participation of people with disabilities in Irish society.
CONCLUSIONS: To improve the quality of disability information, the World Report
recommends the use of a common definition and concepts of disability based on
WHO's International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health (ICF).
Furthermore, disability measurement needs to apply a multidimensional approach,
in particular, measuring disability in terms of the level of difficulty a person
is experiencing in multiple areas of life, rather than head counting severe
impairment types in a dichotomous way. Environmental factors have significant
effects on individual functioning and should be considered as an integral part in
disability measurement.

Langue : ANGLAIS