Measuring (childhood) disability in secondary survey data

Measuring (childhood) disability in secondary survey data: Evidence from the UK and lessons learnt from international studies

Speaker: Dr Eirini-Christina Saloniki, Department of Applied Health Research, University College London & NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North Thames

Almost everyone will experience some form of disability during their life (WHO, 2021). In the UK, in 2020/21 over 15 million people (22 per cent) had a disability, of whom 9 per cent were children, and this is likely to increase due to a rise in chronic health conditions and population ageing, among others (Kirk-Wade, 2022).

Disability is a complex and multifaceted term with several definitions, guided by the context, purpose and data availability. There is no correct or perfect definition, but it is usually informed by a conceptual model (e.g., social, medical, biopsychosocial) or legislation (e.g., UK Equality Act in 2010). Views supporting an integrated definition exist, yet it is recognised that disability is an “evolving concept”, making the adoption of a common definition more challenging (Jones and Saloniki, 2021). In this spirit, in recent years there have been efforts to ‘harmonise’ disability questions across UK surveys. However, data collection on disability (not least because of wording differences) remains inconsistent across surveys and/or over time, with implications for research in this area.

The talk will cover three main topics: (a) basic principles of the different conceptual disability models (an overview); (b) different ways used to identify disabled individuals (incl. children) in secondary survey data (UK and abroad); (c) differences in disability prevalence across different surveys available for secondary use. It will further provide suggestions for further research in this area, followed by a discussion.

References:

Disability Data Initiative https://disabilitydata.ace.fordham.edu/

Kirk-Wade E. (2022). UK disability statistics: Prevalence and life experiences. House of Commons Library, Research briefing No 09602.

Jones M. and Saloniki E. (2021). Exploring the relationship between impairment and disability in Great Britain: Evidence from the Life Opportunities Survey Journal of Disability Policy Studies, https://doi.org/10.1177/10442073211021532

WHO (2021). Disability and health. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/disability-and-health

Speaker Biography:

Dr Eirini-Christina Saloniki is a Senior Research Fellow in Health Economics (NIHR ARC North Thames) in the Department of Applied Health Research at UCL. She holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Kent and an MSc in Economics (Economic Theory) from Athens University of Economics and Business. She is an External Affiliate of the Health Econometrics and Data Group (University of York), and a member of the International Health Economics Association (iHEA). Prior to joining UCL, Eirini held several research and teaching positions at the University of Kent and University of Leeds.

Eirini's research interests lie in the areas of economics of disability, economics of discrimination, health economics and applied microeconometrics. She has a strong interest in discrimination faced by disabled people in different areas, including the labour market, and how such discrimination can be measured and understood using survey data. Her research has examined whether disabled people are likely to misreport their (disability) status when asked in a survey.

Please note that this seminar will be recorded.