1. UN Washington Group Report and Next Steps
Barbara Altman
Daniel Mont
Kampala, Uganda
October 2006

2. Presentation Outline Need for Recommendations Proposal For Report
Next Steps

3. Need for Recommendations
UN Commission Meeting (March 2007)
Discussion Paper
Continued existence
Upcoming Censuses
Disability questions will be included
Crucial time to offer guidance
Need to do something now. Perfection shouldn’t be the enemy of the good.

4. Proposal for Report What we agree on:
Purpose for census is equalization of opportunities
Questions shouldn’t contain the word “disability”
Functional approach based on ICF
Scaled Responses
Four core domains are…
Seeing
Hearing
Walking
Cognition

5. Why those four domains? Basic activity level links up with purpose
Captures large proportion of target population
Easier to capture
Cultural comparability is easier
Mode portability (mail, phone, face to face)

6. Suggestions for Additional Domains
Self-care
Policy making issue
Identifies most vulnerable
Communication
Link to participation
Easier to measure than other important domains

7. What about other domains?
For example, psychological, learning, upper body, etc.
Recognize their importance
Harder to target on census
Some will be picked up by other domains
(will re-visit in “Next Steps” section)

8. Question Wording UN Commission does not recommend specific wording
We suggest an appendix that…
Lists our questions
Provides rationale for wording
Reports on test results
Appear to identify population relative to domains
Numbers and distributions make sense
No notable cultural differences
Report provides basic framework for disability questions
Washington Group endorses use of Q’s as tested

9. Policymaker Needs
Recognize functional questions do not neatly line up with categories policymakers some times need
Explain how combinations of questions and various thresholds can be used to approximate needed categories
Provide examples of how this can be done

10. Next Steps Prior to report, resolve glasses/hearing aid clause issue
Further analysis to…
better understand test results
work with UNESCAP to understand discrepancies and identify commonalities
Re-visit communication question
Technical assistance to countries
Special populations (e.g., children)
Other methodological concerns (e.g., sampling)

11. Publication of Test Results
Description of process
Results of testing
Comparisons with other work
Sample experiences of countries
Limitations of census questions
Identify issues for further research

12. On to Dublin!