¹Office for National Statistics

Abstract

This article reports progress in delivering a revision to survey questions on disability for implementation carrying out in 2010. The Office for National Statistics has relied on survey data to report and update annual estimates of disability-free life expectancy at national level. The survey question used in this calculation has remained consistent since 1972. However, changes in national legislation, a forthcoming European regulation and a number of inadequacies in the level of detail and consistency of disability data collected in household surveys (raised as part of the Review of Equality Data), will require its modification and extension to ensure survey data better reflect the growing data needs in the subject area of disability in the 21st Century. The accurate and reliable measurement of disability is increasing in importance following the revision to the Disability Discrimination Act in 2005 and the publication of a strategy to improve the life chances of disabled people. Of particular concern is the lack of data on impairment types and how impairments interact with social barriers erected by society and its institutions, leading to, or intensifying, the level of disability experienced by people with impairment or limiting illnesses.