Men’s health centre

How disability affects everyday life uncovered

9^th December 2010 - The first major social survey in Great Britain on disability has revealed problems with work, learning, transport and money.

The Life Opportunities Survey Statistical Survey from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) involved interviews in 9,950 households and 18,000 adults aged 16 between June 2009 and March 2010.

The results show some problems are unique to people with disabilities - but many barriers are also experienced by people with no impairments.

Work

56 out of 100 adults with impairments experienced restrictions in the type or amount of paid work they did. That’s more than double the number of adults without impairments (26 out of 100).

The most common work barriers for adults with impairments - and those without - was family responsibilities, followed by a lack of job opportunities.

22 out of 100 adults with impairments said modified hours or reduced work hours would help them in work.

Anxiety and lack of confidence was identified as a barrier by 19 out of 100 adults with impairments compared with 4 out of 100 without impairments

19 out of 100 adults with impairments said having access to equipment to help with a health condition or disability would help them with work.

Transport

74 out of 100 adults with impairments had problems using transport compared with 58 out of 100 without impairments.

Transport was also a major barrier to work opportunities for 31 out of 100 adults with impairments.

The top two means of transport that were used ‘less than would like’ or ‘not at all’ for all adults were long distance buses and trains.

The buses were reported by a similar proportion of adults with impairments (87 out of 100) and those without impairments (85 out of 100). Long distance trains were mentioned by a higher proportion of adults with impairments (85 out of 100) than those without impairments (72 out of 100)

The main barrier for both groups was cost, but for adults with impairments, 13 out of 100 cited anxiety and lack of confidence, compared with just three out of 100 adults without impairments.

Money

45 out of 100 households where at least one person had an impairment were unable to afford expenses or make loan repayments. This compares with 29 out of 100 households without any people with impairments.

32 out of 100 households where at least one person had an impairment could not afford to pay for a week’s annual holiday away from home compared with 20 out of 100 households where no one had an impairment.

Learning

17 out of 100 adults with impairments experienced restrictions in learning opportunities compared with none out of 100 adults without impairments. The main barrier to learning for adults with impairments was financial reasons - but this was also the main barrier among adults without impairments.  Being too busy or not having enough time was the second most common barrier for both groups.