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Social Focus on Disability 2004

chapter one: Disabled Population

Definition of disability

'A person has a disability... if he has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse affect on his ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.'

Disability Discrimination Act 1995

Information on disability in Scotland is collected by the Scottish Executive and other public sector organisations using both administrative and survey sources. However, the exact information collected and the definition of disability which is employed, differs between data collections depending upon the reason for the collection.

For example, information collected within social care often focuses on impairment type defined using medical language and assessed by specialist staff. This is to ensure that the services which are provided meet the specific needs of that individual. Information collected in the education field focuses on impediments to learning rather than on any impairment that a child might have and the definitions used are different from those within social care.

Questions on disability and long-term illness are asked on most of the major surveys carried out by the Scottish Executive. These surveys rely on self definition of disability or illness using questions based around the Disability Discrimination Act definition of disability, so they ask the respondent (or, in some cases, another household member) whether they consider themselves to have a disability or long-term illness. Often, subsequent questions are asked to establish the nature of the disability or illness.

Sources and definitions used in this publication

Much of the information presented in this publication is sourced from the 2001 and 2002 Scottish Household Survey (SHS). In some cases, SHS data is presented for 2002 only; this is either because there has been a change in questions or because the question was first introduced in 2002. Information is also presented from the Labour Force Survey in Scotland, and the 2001 Census in Scotland. More details on the questions asked in the SHS and a comparison of the results with other sources are provided in Appendix 2.

There is also some additional information presented from a variety of other sources covering pre-school, school and higher education, different aspects of health and care, benefits and income information. In each case, an explanation is provided of how the information is collected and to what it refers.

Throughout the publication, information from the SHS is presented separately for those with a disability and those with a long-term illness. This allows the different characteristics of the disabled and long-term ill population to be highlighted. It has not been possible to separately identify the disabled and the long-term ill population when using other data sources.

This chapter provides an overview of the disabled population in Scotland using results from the SHS and the 2001 Census. The demographic information presented should set the scene and inform readers for future chapters.

Sex and age

The 2001/2002 SHS estimates that just under one in five adults in Scotland have a disability and/or a long-term illness. The results in Table 1.1 show that 18 per cent of men and 19 per cent of women consider themselves to have a disability and/or a long-term illness. It is also evident that older adults are significantly more likely to have a disability than those in younger age groups; 45 per cent of adults aged 75 and over, compared with only 4 per cent of those aged between 16 and 24 years report that they have a disability and/or a long-term illness.

Table 1.2 shows that, according to the SHS, women make up 56 per cent of the adult population living in private households. ¹ The gender split is similar across the different groups: women make up 57 per cent of disabled adults and 55 per cent of adults with no disability or long-term illness.

The older age profile of adults with a disability is also evident from Table 1.2. Over half (57 per cent) of disabled adults are aged 60 or over. In contrast, only 23 per cent of adults with no disability or long-term illness are in this age group.

Ethnicity

Information on ethnic group was collected as part of the 2001 Census in Scotland. The size of the ethnic minority population was just over 100,000 or 2 per cent of the total population of Scotland.

The 2001 Census shows that 24 per cent of adults in Scotland have a limiting long-term illness. There are, however, considerable variations across the different ethnic groups. The proportion of adults with a limiting long-term illness is largest within the White Scottish (25 per cent) and White Irish (27 per cent) groups. In comparison, only 9 per cent of Africans and those from Other Ethnic Groups have a limiting long-term illness.

Results from the Census show that ethnic minority groups have a much younger age profile than the White groups. Thus, it is important to take the different age structures into consideration. The likelihood of having a limiting long-term illness will increase with age; given that there are a high proportion of White Scottish and White Irish people in the older age categories, it is not surprising that these groups are more likely to have a limiting long-term illness.

To take account of the different age structures of the population, Table 1.4 shows the proportion of adults aged 65 and over with a limiting long-term illness. The results now show that, of those aged 65 and over, Pakistanis (68 per cent) and Indians (63 per cent) are most likely to have a limiting long-term illness. In contrast, only 48 per cent of Carribbeans aged 65 and over have a limiting long-term illness.

Marital status

Results from the SHS show that over half (55 per cent) of all adults in Scotland are married, and 20 per cent are single.

Source: Scottish Household Survey

Disabled adults are significantly more likely to be widowed (23 per cent) than adults without a disability or long-term illness (7 per cent). This is not surprising, however, given the older age profile of the disabled population. In general, disabled adults are also less likely to be married, cohabiting or single.

Urban rural classification

The Scottish Executive's urban rural classification (previously called the Scottish Household Survey urban rural classification) allows areas to be classified as urban and rural. The classification is based on the size of settlements and also how close the settlements are to large settlements in terms of 'drivetimes'. The full classification is detailed in Table 1.5:

Chart 1.2 shows the distribution of the disabled and non-disabled population by area:

Source: Scottish Household Survey

Just over 40 per cent of all adults in Scotland live in large urban areas. Disabled adults are significantly more likely to live in large urban areas (44 per cent) than those without a disability (40 per cent).

In terms of accessible ² and remote ³ areas, 92 per cent of all adults live within 30 minutes drive of a settlement of 10,000 or more. The comparable figure for disabled adults is 93 per cent.

References

Disability Discrimination Act 1995
http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1995/1995050.htm

Scottish Executive Urban Rural Classification 2003-2004
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/rural/seurc-00.asp

Scottish Household Survey
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/about/SR/CRU-SocInc/00016002/SHShome.aspx

Scotland's People Volume 7: Results from the 2001/2002 Scottish Household Survey
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/finance/spv7-00.asp

SCROL, Scotland's Census Results OnLine
http://www.scrol.gov.uk/scrol/common/home.jsp

2001 Census Homepage
http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/grosweb/grosweb.nsf/pages/censushm

Contacts

Telephone contact points for information relating to Chapter 1, Disabled Population:

Scottish Executive

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