People with disability in Australia

Introduction

One way to measure health is to ask people how they feel about their health, their state of mind and their life in general. This section looks at the health of Australians with disability based on 3 survey tools:

• self-assessed health status
• Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10)
• bodily pain.

These indicate that people with disability experience poorer general health and higher levels of bodily pain and psychological distress than people without disability.

General health

An estimated two-thirds (68%) of adults without disability consider their health excellent or very good (Figure STATUS.1). This is not the case for people with disability, with less than one-third (31%) rating their health as excellent or very good.

Figure STATUS.1: Self-assessed health status of adults, by disability status and severity, age group, and sex, 2020-21

Notes:
* Relative standard error of 25%–50% and should be used with caution.

1. Restricted to people aged 18 and over living in households.
2. Numbers may not add up to 100 per cent due to rounding. Data have been randomly adjusted to avoid identifying individual people.

Source data tables: Data tables – Health status (ABS NHS 2020–21). View data tables

In general, adults with disability rate their health as poorer than adults without disability:

• Adults with disability (32%) are 6 times as likely as those without disability (5.2%) to assess their health as fair or poor.
• Adults with severe or profound disability (70%) are more than twice as likely as adults with other disability (27%) to assess their health as fair or poor, and around 13 times as likely as adults without disability (5.2%).
• Men with disability (32%) are almost 6 times as likely as men without disability (5.8%) to assess their health as fair or poor.
• Women with disability (32%) are around 7 times as likely as women without disability (4.7%) to assess their health as fair or poor (Figure STATUS.1).

There are also differences in how people with disability rate their health depending on their age, disability group, and where they live:

• 32% of adults with disability aged 18–64 rate their health as excellent or very good, compared with 28% among those aged 65 and over (Figure STATUS.1).
• Adults with disability aged 18–64 living in Major cities tend to report better health than those living in Inner regional areas, with 34% of those living in Major cities and 27% in Inner regional areas rating their health as excellent or very good (ABS 2022).
• Among adults aged 18 and over with sensory disability, 36% rate their health as excellent or very good, compared with 15% of those with psychosocial disability, 24% of those with intellectual disability, and 25% of those with physical disability (ABS 2022).

Mental health

Self-reported psychological distress is an important indication of the overall mental health of a population. An estimated two-thirds (67%) of adults without disability experience a low level of psychological distress (Figure STATUS.2). This is not the case for adults with disability, of whom less than half (43%) experience a low level of psychological distress.

Figure STATUS.2: Psychological distress (K10 score) for adults, by disability status and severity, age group, and sex, 2020-21

Notes"
* Relative standard error of 25%–50% and should be used with caution.

1. Restricted to people aged 18 and over living in households, excluding interviews with proxy respondents.
2. Numbers may not add up to 100 per cent due to rounding. Data have been randomly adjusted to avoid identifying individual people.
3. The categories ‘High’ and ‘Very high’ distress for people aged 65 and over without disability are not shown due to small sample numbers and to protect confidentiality.

Source data tables: Data tables – Health status (ABS NHS 2020–21). View data tables

In general, adults with disability (especially those with severe or profound disability) experience higher levels of psychological distress than those without disability. High or very high levels of psychological distress are more likely to be experienced by:

• adults with disability (33%) – almost 3 times as likely as those without disability (12%)
• adults with severe or profound disability (55%) – almost twice as likely as those with other disability status (30%)
• women with disability (36%) – compared with men with disability (30%)
• adults with disability aged 18–64 (41%) – more than twice as likely as those aged 65 and over (19%) (Figure STATUS.2). This is especially true for people with disability aged 18–24, of whom about 61% experience high or very high psychological distress (ABS 2022).

Looking at disability groups, the most likely to experience high or very high levels of psychological distress are adults with:

• psychosocial disability (76%)
• intellectual disability (53%).

The least likely to experience this are adults with:

• sensory disability (25%)
• physical disability (35%) (ABS 2022).

Bodily pain

Adults with disability are more likely to experience any bodily pain (92%) within the last 4 weeks than those without disability (61%), and 10 times as likely (16%) to have experienced severe or very severe bodily pain as adults without disability (1.6%).

Among adults with disability:

• those with severe or profound disability are 3 times as likely (39%) to have experienced severe or very severe bodily pain within the last 4 weeks as those with other disability status (13%)
• females are slightly more likely (18%) to have experienced severe or very severe bodily pain than males (14%)
• those with sensory disability are least likely (12%) to have experienced severe or very severe bodily pain, compared with those with intellectual or physical disability (both 21%), or psychosocial disability (24%) (ABS 2022).

Health satisfaction

In 2021, almost 2 in 3 (64%) people aged 15–64 without disability were highly satisfied with their health. This was not the case for people with disability, with only 1 in 4 (26%) being highly satisfied. Of people with disability aged 15–64:

• those with severe or profound disability were less likely (14%) to be highly satisfied with their health than those with other disability status (28%)
• those with physical disability were less likely (18%) to be highly satisfied with their health than those with intellectual disability (37%) or sensory disability (31%) (DSS and MIAESR 2022).