All States Parties to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities commit to collecting appropriate information, including statistical and research data, to enable them to formulate and implement policies (Article 31). This page centers disabled people's expertise and supports data collection that serves disabled communities.
Reliable statistics are fundamental to understanding disability prevalence, disparities, access gaps, and unmet needs. But data must be collected thoughtfully, analyzed carefully, and interpreted with awareness of limitations.
Quality disability data serves multiple purposes:
Revealing the size and diversity of disabled populations across different contexts and communities
Exposing disparities in employment, education, health, housing, and social inclusion
Supporting policy advocacy by documenting needs and outcomes
Tracking progress toward inclusion, accessibility, and rights implementation
Allocating resources effectively to programs and services
Without good data, disabled people remain invisible in policy decisions and resource allocation.
The Washington Group developed internationally recognized question sets to measure disability prevalence and functioning consistently across countries. Their Short Set of six questions assesses functioning in seeing, hearing, mobility, cognition, communication, and self-care.
Key features:
The Washington Group also offers extended question sets, child functioning modules (developed with UNICEF), and labor force survey modules.
Website: Washington Group on Disability Statistics
WHO supports disability data collection through several frameworks:
Website: WHO Collection of Data on Disability
Disability data collection often faces significant problems:
Use validated tools like Washington Group question sets when possible for comparability
Disaggregate data and cross-tabulate by disability status plus other demographics to reveal inequities
Combine quantitative and qualitative methods — statistics alone rarely tell full stories
Make data collection accessible to disabled participants (multiple formats, accommodations, flexible timing)
Engage disabled communities in design, collection, interpretation, and dissemination
Respect privacy and confidentiality, especially when publishing data about small or identifiable populations
Apply social/rights-based frameworks when interpreting data — focus on barriers, not deficits
Acknowledge limitations clearly in any publication or presentation
Share findings with disabled communities in accessible formats
Use data to advocate for policy changes and resource allocation that benefit disabled people
This page centers disabled people's expertise and supports data collection that serves disabled communities. For questions or to suggest additions, see How to Contribute.