Defining and Naming Disability

Abstract

Data from the HID home survey show that 42% of respondents report at least one deficiency, 21% at least one incapacity, 10% restricted activity and only 8% administrative recognition. However, these populations are not concentric. Specifically, over one million people have an administratively recognised disability despite reporting neither incapacity nor restricted activity. The survey also shows unequal recognition of disability, to the detriment of women and older people. Recognition seems to be related to employment, since beneficiaries are more likely to be of working age. Whether respondents report a disability depends not only on their experience of perceived restrictions in everyday activities but also on administrative recognition, pointing to a compromise between lived experience and socially prevalent ways of dealing with health status. The disability survey thus shows the various modes of disability designation to be fundamentally different. The diversity of groups observed explodes the myth of a uniform disabled population susceptible of overall treatment, and suggests rather dealing with each aspect of disability as an independent topic of analysis, with a full picture emerging only from the combination of the various approaches.

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