Reporting on Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021–2031
The article was originally posted on LinkedIn by Louise York, Head of the Community Services Group.
To know if life is improving for the 1 in 6 (4.4 million) Australians living with disability, it is important to track what changes for people with disability over time.
Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021–2031 outlines a vision to make life better for people with disability in 7 outcome areas, creating a more inclusive and accessible Australian society where people with disability can fulfil their potential as equal members of the community.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) today launched the Australia’s Disability Strategy Outcomes Framework webpages, which will be used to track progress against 85 measures in the Strategy.
What is Australia’s Disability Strategy?
The Strategy is a commitment by governments to build an inclusive Australian society that ensures people with disability can fulfil their potential, as equal members of the community.
The 7 outcome areas that people with disability have collectively said need to improve in order to achieve the Strategy’s vision are:
- Employment and financial security
- Inclusive homes and communities
- Safety, rights and justice
- Personal and community support
- Education and learning
- Health and wellbeing
- Community attitudes
The Outcome areas in the Strategy each set out where governments at all levels, working with the community and business, and people with disability will focus on delivering the needed changes.
How do these webpages fit into the Strategy?
The AIHW has been engaged as an independent data agency, to build and maintain the webpages and to bring together and report available data from Australian, state, territory and local government agencies.
The Strategy includes an Outcome Framework which includes measures of progress in each outcome area. The launch of the webpages has provided a baseline for many of these measures, with regular updates planned over the life of the Strategy to continually increase the evidence base, track progress against the baseline and inform government decision-making.
How do we keep track of what has changed for people with disability over time?
AIHW will collect data from a range of sources including surveys (such as those run by the Australian Bureau of Statistics) and information collected as part of service provision (including the National Disability Insurance Scheme). As new data become available, they will be added to these webpages.
An annual outcomes framework report will be released under the publication section of the website. These reports will provide more information about what changed during that year. The first report is expected to be released in early 2023.
When will data be released?
Available data will be updated quarterly. Some measures will require the collection of new data which can take time. For some measures it may be several years before there is data that can be used.
Later in 2023, more measures are expected to be reported on as governments work together to create and improve data. Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey will provide data on the measures under the Community Attitudes outcome area. The Australian, state and territory governments are also working together on a National Disability Data Asset (NDDA) that will potentially allow more measures to be reported.
For more information and statistics on people living with disability, visit People with disability in Australia, People with disability.
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