Disability Statistics:India 5th Annual Meeting of Washington Group September,2005 Rio de Janeiro

Sources of Data 4 Disability Survey of National Sample Survey,2002 Estimated number of disabled persons :18.5 million 4 Population Census,2001 Number of disabled persons : 21.9 million Note: The number of disabled persons is about 2 % of the total population of the country.

What is Disability? Mental Disability u Mental Retardation, u Mental Illness Physical Disability: u Blindness u Low Vision u Hearing Disability u Speech Disability u Locomotor Disability

Global Position: Disability Status

Major issue:Adoption of ICF Under ICF, Disability serves as an umbrella term for: 4Activity Limitation, and 4Participation restriction or impairments 4These are associated with Body Functions and Body 4 Structure 4Activity: Execution of a task or action by an 4 individual 4Participation: Involvement in life situations

4 Body Functions are the physiological functions including 4 Psychological functions 4 Body structures are anatomical parts of the body such as organs, limbs and their components. 4 There is a need to develop a set of definitions for the census and surveys which are consistent with the international definitions.

UNESCAP-WHO FIELD TESTING SURVEY The field testing survey was conducted in one District with 1000 schedules having been canvassed for test 1,i.e., sensitivity & specificity testing. Training of the investigators was absolutely necessary as the investigators are usually conversant with the NSS surveys & their mindset had to be reset for canvassing the ICF framework schedule. This training was imparted by officers of CSO in the presence of the consultant from ABS,and representative of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment & National Institute of Hearing Handicapped.

Experiences From This Survey 4 There were 68 questions in the schedule, it was considered to be lengthy. The respondents were not usually willing to give adequate time for completing the schedule. 4 There was a problem on the question regarding the sexual activities specifically when asked by a male interviewer to a female respondent & vice-versa.

Experiences From This Survey 4 There was a problem in asking this question to the unmarried,widows/widowers & separated persons. 4 In the rural areas, the female respondents tend to suggest to get the information from their husbands.

Experiences From This Survey 4 Most of the respondents were curious to know why they were being interviewed. 4 Majority of the respondents reacted, “I am quite healthy. Why are you asking unnecessary questions?” 4 Literate respondents were cooperative during the interview.

Experiences From This Survey 4 It was difficult to interview the illiterate & semi-literate persons, most of time was spent to make them understand the questions. 4 Female respondents were reluctant to respond, they were insisting the presence of male members.

Experiences From This Survey 4 Retired persons were found to be very cooperative during the interview. 4 Persons who were not healthy (having some kind of health problems) took interest in responding to the questions.

The data collected through this field testing survey for study 1 (specificity & sensitivity testing),study 2(test retest reliability) study 3( cognitive tests) have been made available to WHO for analysis and providing the results. A technical advisory committee constituted by the CSO is also currently engaged in suitably redefining various disability terms so that these could be easily understood by the interviewers & the informants in NSS surveys & in the census.

Thank You!