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The Way Forward – A New Disability Policy Framework For Australia

Part 1: Experience of Disability in Australia

People with disability

One in five people in Australia (3,958,300 or 20 per cent) reported disability in 2003. A further 4,149,000 (or 21 per cent) had a long-term health condition that did not restrict their everyday activities. Approximately 595,000 people (3.0 per cent) reported a profound disability, and a further 650,000 people (3.3 per cent) reported having a severe disability.2

About 1 in 12 children aged up to 14 years, had a disability (8.3 per cent of all children), and half of these had a severe or profound limitation.

The number of people aged 0–64 years with severe or profound core activity limitations is projected to grow substantially between 2006 and 2010. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare estimates an increase of 4.8 per cent to 752,100 people.3 The Institute also suggests that increases over recent decades in the prevalence of some long-term health conditions, particularly related to disability, may result in further increases in the size of this population.4

Generally, the prevalence of severe and profound disability increases with age, and is of particular significance for an ageing population. Over the next 40 years, a steady increase in the number of people with severe or profound disability will continue (projected to grow from 1.4 million to 2.9 million).5 Over the next 70 years, the rate of growth in the severe and profound population is between two and three times the rate of growth of the population as a whole.

Since the 1980s, policy trends have emphasised de-institutionalisation of health and welfare services. Between 1981 and 2003, there was a strong trend towards people aged less than 65 years with severe or profound limitations living in the community.

While the total number of people aged 5–64 years with severe or profound limitations rose by 137 per cent, or 371,000 people, the number living in cared accommodation fell by 40 per cent. The type of living arrangement with the largest increase over the period was people with severe or profound limitations living with family—an additional 318,000 people aged 5–64 years lived with family in 2003 compared with 1981. As a percentage of people aged 5–64 years with severe or profound limitations 1 in 40 lived in cared accommodation in 2003, compared with almost 1 in 10 in 1981.6

Carers

In 2003, approximately 2.5 million people reported providing informal care to a person because of disability or old age. Of these 2.5 million people, approximately 20 per cent (or 474,600 people), reported being the primary carer of a person with disability. Of these carers, 187,500 (40 per cent) had disability themselves.7 Using assumptions on average hours of care per week for primary and non-primary carers, there were approximately 643,000 full-time equivalent informal carers in Australia in 2003, providing an estimated 24.4 million hours of care per week.8

Primary carers are likely to be in the poorest two-fifths of all households and 55 per cent receive income support as their main source of cash income. Most primary carers (71 per cent) are women.

Nearly two-thirds of primary carers were not employed (295,000) and almost one-third had left work just prior to taking on the caring role. Just over half of primary carers in this situation had left work specifically to start or increase care.

Of all primary carers who had left work to start or increase care, 38 per cent had done so because alternative care was not available or too expensive, or because they were unable to change their working arrangements. However, the remainder had done so due to other reasons such as emotional obligations or because they preferred to care full-time (62 per cent). Around 57 per cent of male primary carers who had left work to take on the caring role had done so because alternative care was not available or too expensive, or because they were unable to change their working arrangements.

It is a common scenario in Australia that a parent then spouse or sibling then child will support a person with disability over their lifetime. It appears that in many situations the parent will be the carer until it is no longer possible for them to care for their son or daughter.

Recent research by the Australian Institute of Family Studies found that carers and families of people with disability experience high rates of mental health problems, poor physical health, employment restrictions, financial hardship and relationship breakdown.9

The ratio of informal carers to the number of people with disability is projected to fall.10 This is attributed to Australia’s low fertility rate over recent decades, higher rates of family breakdown, and increasing participation of women in the workforce.

  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2003, Disability, Ageing and Carers: Summary of Findings, cat. no. 4430.0, ABS, Canberra.
  2. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2007, pp. 87-8.
  3. AIHW 2007, p.119.
  4. PwC 2008, p.31.
  5. AIHW 2008, Disability in Australia: trends in education, prevalence, employment and community living, AIHW Bulletin, no. 61, pp. 28–9.
  6. ABS 2003.
  7. PwC 2008, p.32.
  8. Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) 2008, The nature and impact of caring for family members with a disability in Australia, research report no. 16, AIFS, Melbourne.
  9. AIHW 2007.

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