Part 2 – The State disability plan midway outcomes report 2024

For most of the headline indicators, there are 2 measures.

Where data is available, we present the percentage of people with and without disability who have the outcome relevant to the measure.

For example, the measure of high social support shows the number of people who have high social support for every 100 people.

So, if 45% of people with disability and 65% of people without disability have high social support, this means if you had 100 people with disability and 100 people without disability, there would be 20 more people without disability that have high levels of social support.

Relative inequality is a way of comparing people with and without disability. It is the percentage measure for people with disability, divided by the percentage measure for people without disability. In other words, it tells you how many people with disability have the quantity of interest (for example, high social support) for every one person without disability.

Using the measure of ‘high social support’ as an example:

A relative inequality of 1 (or close to 1) means that people with and without disability are equally likely to have high levels of social support.

A relative inequality greater than 1 means that people with disability are more likely to have high social support than people without disability.

For example, a relative measure of 2 means that for every person without disability with high social support, there are 2 people with disability with high social support.

A relative inequality of less than 1 means that people with disability are less likely to have high social support than people without disability.

For example, a relative measure of 0.6 means that for every person without disability with high social support, there 0.6 people with disability with high social support.

Please note that relative measures, also referred to as relative inequalities in the broader monitoring literature, need to be interpreted carefully.

We recommend looking at them alongside the overall trends in the measure for people with disability, in comparison to people without disability.

We use a definition of disability in the report based on the International Classification of Functioning. This conceptualises disability as a multidimensional concept relating to body functions and health, activity limitations, the environment in which people live and personal factors.

Overall, each of the data sources used in this report defines disability as a limitation, restriction or impairment that restricts everyday activities and has lasted or is likely to last for 6 months or more.

However, the question(s) used to ascertain this are asked slightly differently across surveys.

For example, the Survey of Disability Ageing and Carers had 152 questions to identify people with disability. However, it has limited information that can be used for outcomes monitoring, and limited information on people without disability.

In contrast, the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey (HILDA) uses a single question, and showcard, that lists specific examples of physical, sensory, psychological, intellectual impairments and functional limitations to help prompt people responding. While the information on disability itself is limited in HILDA, there is rich detail about other life outcomes. This information is also collected for people without disability, so we are able to make comparisons with people without disability.

The analysis in this report is based on people who lived in Victoria at the time of the survey.

Life satisfaction has improved slightly for people with disability. More than half of people with disability reported being satisfied with their lives.

While more people without disability report being satisfied with their life, the gap between people with and without disability is stable.

Data for this outcome was not accessible for the review period.

Based on data and analysis previously presented for the outcomes report in 2018, around 1 in 4 people with disability reported experiencing general discrimination or unfair treatment in 2014, compared to 1 in 6 people without disability.

The research team did not have access to data for the review period for this outcome.

However, in 2018 people with disability were more than twice as likely to experience physical violence and nearly three times as likely to experience sexual violence in the previous 12 months than people without disability.

The proportion of adults with disability studying for a qualification has increased slightly to around 8% by 2022.

While adults with disability are less likely to be studying than people without disability, this gap has decreased.

Across a range of employment measures, we found that people with disability are less likely to participate in the labour force and are more likely to be unemployed than people without disability.

However there has been some progress – the proportion of people with disability in the labour force has increased with nearly half of people with disability in the labour force in 2022.

Unemployment has remained stable though, and inequality has increased with unemployment falling for people without disability.

For those in employment, the proportion of people with disability satisfied with their job and hours has increased.

The proportion of people with disability living in lower income households has fallen.

However, there is still substantial inequality, with people with disability remaining 1.6 times more likely to be in a lower income household than people without disability.

People with disability remain 1.6 times more likely than people without disability to be unable to access emergency funds, if there is an unexpected cost they need to cover.

The proportion of people with disability who went without meals because of a lack of money has increased and is over 4 times higher than people without disability. In 2022, almost 1 in every 10 people with disability went without meals because of money.

The proportion of people with disability who regularly participate in civic activities has fallen slightly, with only one in four reporting participation in 2022.

However, participation for people without disability has also decreased, likely reflecting the impacts of COVID-19.

So, while people with disability remain less likely to participate in civic activities, this inequality has improved slightly.

There has been some progress in employment opportunities for people with disability – but only 59% of people with disability reporting that they were satisfied with their employment opportunities in 2022.

And while fewer people with disability than people without disability report satisfaction with their employment opportunities, inequality is closing.