Disability in Australia

[1] The incidence of disability caused by physical conditions, as opposed to mental or behavioural disorders, dropped from 17% in 2003, to 15% in 2009.

For instance, in 2003, 6.8% of Australians had a disability primarily caused by musculoskeletal disorders such as arthritis and back problems, with this proportion declining to 6.5% in 2009.

In 2003, 8.8% of people aged in the 65 years and older group reported a disability due to diseases of the circulatory system, compared with 7.4% in 2009.

In addition, for this age group, the proportion of people with a disability due to back problems reduced, from 2.6% in 2003 to 1.9% in 2009.

[5] At the time of the enactment of the DDA, a variety of anti-discrimination acts for people with disabilities already existed in the different state legislatures, some dating back to the early 1980s.

A Productivity Commission enquiry was initiated by the Australian government to evaluate the effectiveness of the act, and published its findings in 2004.

The Commission found that while there is still room for improvement, particularly in reducing discrimination in employment, overall the DDA has been reasonably effective.

Specifically, the Commission found that people with a disability were less likely to finish school, to have a TAFE or university qualification and to be employed.

DisabilityCare Australia, formerly known as the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), is a healthcare program initiated by the Australian government.

Just under one third of these (29%) were primary carers; that is, people who provided the majority of the informal help needed by a person with a disability or aged 60 years and over.

However, it is not subject to activity testing and not included in the 'activation' policies applied to most other forms of income support for working-age people.

Of these, 166,700 had a severe or profound "core activity limitation", where they need assistance with regular communication, mobility or self-care tasks.

Frustrated parent-carers of disabled children have expressed their struggles in Australia that carers of other people do not have, but often live in disadvantaged circumstances such as their incomes are often lower than those of other families: in 2003, 50% of primary carers of disabled children were in the bottom two income quintiles, compared with 34% of non-carers.

[10] In response Australian Commonwealth and state/territory governments developed a few initiatives to support all carers including young people with disabilities and their parents.

Another in New South Wales, the Stronger Together Plan[12] (2006–16) is designed to enable children with a disability to grow up in a family and participate in the community, and to support adults with a disability to live in and be part of the community (with services such as respite, therapy, innovative care and family and sibling support).

The Commonwealth even developed their own program called Helping Children with Autism package (HCWA)[13] (from 2009) which provides funding for early intervention services such as the access to advisors who provide information on eligibility, funding and services; supported playgroups; new items on the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS).

The review found that because their children did not meet the definition of "profoundly disabled", many parents were ineligible for Carer Payment.

[10] In Australia in 2009, over one million working-age people with disability (50%) were in paid employment, comprising 10% of the total Australian workforce.

Difficulties such as access to childcare (22%), were reported as limiting these people's ability to participate in the labour force despite having no employment restrictions.

For people without disability who were not in the labour force, other difficulties were reported such as a lack of vacancies or suitable hours (both 11%).

People with mental illness may experience disruption to their work attendance and career due to the episodic nature of their disability.

This may partly reflect the unique barriers that people with intellectual disability face in accessing education and work.

Some industries had a higher than average (10%) disability prevalence rate, particularly Agriculture, forestry and fishing (15%) and Transport, postal and warehousing (12%).

Such situations may enhance the flexibility of working arrangements, making it easier for people with disability to participate in the labour force.

[20] Disability can affect a person's capacity to participate in the labour force and their ability to earn income.

In 2015, around two in five (41.9%) people of working age with disability reported that their main source of cash income was a government pension or allowance, followed by wages or salary (36.5%).

Since the 1970s people with disability have been involved a number of campaigns regarding deinstutionalisation, funding for independent living and housing, carer support, wage justice, bodily autonomy, and access to transport, buildings and entertainment.

[23] A 2018 report found that over the last 15 years, within Australia, a person with disability had been murdered by their intimate carer (a friend or family member) every three months.

[28] This Wikipedia article is substantially built upon text directly from Australian Bureau of Statistics 2009, Disability, Ageing and Carers, Australia: Summary of Findings, cat.

This Wikipedia article is substantially built upon text directly from Australian Bureau of Statistics (March 2012).