Invisible or Mainstream? Disability in Surveys and Censuses in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

This paper examines to what extent household surveys and censuses in low- and middle-income countries include disability questions and the types of questions under use. We found that only 31% of 734 datasets between 2009 and 2018 from 133 low- and middle-income countries have at least one disability-related question. Of the surveys reviewed, 15% of the datasets have functional difficulty questions that meet international standards, i.e. Washington Group short set or other functional difficulty questions. Meanwhile, the most asked disability question “Do you have a disability?” is problematic as it does not produce meaningful and internationally comparable data. We recommend the adoption of functional difficulty questions for all surveys and censuses to track the progress of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as well as the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.