One of the largest disability surveys has been published looking at social barriers faced by adults with impairments. What do the results show?
A major disability survey has been released identifying the most common barriers towards daily life.
Randeep Ramesh has written:
“Large numbers of disabled people suffered from so much “anxiety and lack of confidence” that they struggled to lead a normal life.
The result is a startling gap between what able-bodied and disabled people could manage to do in life.”
The Life Opportunities Survey by the ONS asked 18,000 people about eight key areas of life to identify the most common “social barriers” they face.
The ONS state that the survey is “the first major ONS social survey in Great Britain to explore disability in terms of the social barriers to participation that people experience, rather than only measuring disability in terms of impairments or health conditions.”
One of the biggest issues that emerged from the survey is the effect of “anxiety and lack of confidence” on daily and common activities.
The results state that 19% of adults with impairments cite “anxiety and lack of confidence” as a barrier to employment whereas this drops to only 4% for adults without impairments.
Graphic about barrier to employment and travel
Lack of confidence was also found when asked about transport. Both long distance buses and trains found that adults with impairments stated that insecurity was preventing 13% and 12% respectively from using them whereas in adults without impairments, insecurity accounted for 3% and 2% respectively.
The comprehensive study also looks at differences between adults with impairments and those without in a variety of situations such as work, home life and financial situations such as loan repayment.
The full survey by the ONS can be found on their website. We have selected a few of the tables for you to download in a spreadsheet. What can you do with this data?
Download the data
Source: The Guardian
