STANDARD QUESTIONS – Disability

There are a number of different ways to capture whether a respondent is living with a disability. When choosing the most appropriate question type it is important to think about:

1. What level of detail is needed for the aims of your research?
2. Would using the long-form option impact on the respondent experience (e.g. significantly increase time to complete, not relevant to most people resulting in loss of interest in the survey)?
3. Are there cost implications (e.g. additional pages for a printed survey, additional time for a phone survey)?
4. Is there other research or data you would like to compare it to (in which case it is best to source the question used in the other research)?
5. Are people who experience a long-term disability likely to take part in your survey (based on distribution and format)?

Some key principles to remember:

• Surveys should not cause harm to the respondent.
• Always include a ‘refer not to say’ option on questions collecting personal information.

For a single question that covers a similar scope to the Census form (Q24-26), we typically use the following. This would be used for long surveys where the topic is not directly related to whether someone has a disability or not, however we want to be able to break out some findings by this variable, or identify coverage of this cohort.

Q. Do you have a disability where you need help with self-care, body movement or communication activities?
A. Yes, No, I’d prefer not to say

For slightly more detailed information we would use questions 1 and 3 in the recommendations from this paper, which closely align to the Victorian Population Health Survey (VPHS).

Q1. Do you experience any difficulty or restriction that affects your participation in work, education, social and community life, or doing daily activities, related to a long-term health condition or impairment? Daily activities include washing, dressing, eating, moving around the house or outside the home, communicating with others, making decisions, learning new things, preparing meals, managing daily routine, caring for children or others, coping with stress.
A. Yes, No, I’d prefer not to say

Q2. Which of the following categories best describes your disability? (multiple response allowed)

1. 1. Sensory (e.g., sight, hearing, speech)2.
   2. Intellectual (e.g., difficulty learning, or understanding)
   3. Physical (e.g., breathing difficulties, chronic or recurrent pain, blackouts or seizures,
      incomplete use of limbs)
   4. Psychosocial (e.g., nervous, or emotional conditions, social or behavioural difficulties)
   5. Head injury, stroke or acquired brain injury
   6. Other (Specify)
   7. Don’t know
   8. I’d prefer not to say

For a more detailed assessment we would use an adaptation of the questions put forth in the Disability Assessment survey here. We would only use this series of questions in a survey related to the topic of disability where we expected a large proportion of the sample to qualify for one or more of the listed items.

Q. Do you experience any of the following? (Grid question)

• • Difficulty seeing even when wearing glasses?
  • Difficulty hearing, even when using a hearing aid?
  • Difficulty walking, climbing steps or moving in your environment?
  • Use equipment to get around (e.g. walking stick, walker, wheelchair, crutches, scooter, artificial limb etc.)?
  • Difficulty communicating in your usual language (e.g. understanding or being understood)?
  • Difficulty remembering or concentrating?
  • Difficulty with self-care such as washing or dressing?
  • Difficulty using hands and fingers, such as picking up small objects?

A. (in rows)

• • No difficulty
  • Some difficulty
  • A lot of difficulty
  • Cannot do at all
  • Don’t know
  • I’d prefer not to say