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Description of participants with a disability

The demographic characteristics of the 508 participants with a disability were compared with the 1917 participants without a disability (see Table 1). These two groups of participants comprised similar proportions of males and females, and similar proportions of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. However, participants with a disability were significantly more likely than other participants to be older, to be born in an English speaking country, to have lower personal incomes and to have lower levels of education.⁷

Table 1: Disability status by demographic factors
Participants with and participants without a disability, 2003

Demographic factor		Disability status				All participants No.
		Disability		No disability
		No.	%	No.	%
Gender	Female	246	48.4	957	50.1	1203
	Male	262	51.6	960	49.9	1222
	Total	508	100	1917	100	2425
Age (years) a	15–24	35	6.9	367	19.2	402
	25–34	57	11.2	405	21.1	462
	35–44	78	15.4	402	21	480
	45–54	112	22.1	335	17.5	447
	55–64	109	21.5	190	9.9	299
	65+	116	22.9	216	11.3	332
	Total	507	100	1915	100	2422
Indigenous status	Indigenous	17	3.9	63	3.6	80
	Non-Indigenous	419	96.1	1681	96.4	2100
	Total	436	100	1744	100	2180
Country of birth a	English speaking	454	89.5	1602	83.7	2056
	Non-English speaking	53	10.5	313	16.3	366
	Total	507	100	1915	100	2422
Personal income a ($/week)	0–199	126	26.4	363	20.7	489
	200–499	219	45.9	598	34.1	817
	500–999	97	20.3	590	33.6	687
	1000+	35	7.3	205	11.7	240
	Total	477	100	1756	100	2233
Educational level a	Didn’t finish/at school	68	13.5	200	10.5	268
	Year 10/equivalent	153	30.3	509	26.7	662
	Year 12/equivalent	101	20	404	21.2	505
	Certificate/diploma	89	17.6	320	16.8	409
	University degree	94	18.6	471	24.7	565
	Total	505	100	1904	100	2409

a Significant difference, p<0.05.
Notes: n=508 participants with a disability and 1917 participants without a disability. Where the total for a given demographic factor is less than 2425 (i.e. 508 + 1917), data were missing on that factor. Disability status was missing for six participants.

To examine the extent to which the participants with a disability are representative of the NSW population of people with a chronic illness or disability, the Coumarelos et al. (2006) survey was compared with the Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDAC) conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in 2003 (ABS 2004a; 2004b). The SDAC is the largest survey in Australia measuring disability. In terms of the overall incidence of chronic illness or disability, the percentage of 20.9 per cent (i.e. 508 of 2431 participants) obtained by the Coumarelos et al. (2006) survey is virtually identical to the 20.2 per cent obtained by the SDAC.⁸

In terms of participants’ demographic characteristics, there were some similarities and some differences between the two surveys. The SDAC disability participants, when compared with other SDAC participants, were more likely to be female, older, born outside Australia or New Zealand, and out of the labour force or unemployed. SDAC disability participants were also more likely to have no post school qualifications and lower incomes.⁹ Thus, the SDAC survey was similar to the Coumarelos et al. (2006) survey (see Table 1) in that participants with a disability were older and more disadvantaged on the indicators of income and education compared with other participants. However, despite these similarities, when the SDAC disability participants were directly compared with the Coumarelos et al. (2006) participants with a disability, those from the SDAC were significantly older, less likely to have post-school qualifications, less likely to be out of the workforce and more likely to be employed.¹⁰

Given the differences noted above between the Coumarelos et al. (2006) survey and the SDAC, it appears that the group of participants with a disability used in the present analyses may not be entirely representative of the NSW population of people who have a chronic illness or disability.