AIHW vision disability services data: ABF/NDS Update

This information has been reproduced from the ABF/NDS Update newsletter December 2009: For more information on ABF/NDS please contact Margaret Verick at margaret.verick@nds.org.au, phone  02 6283 3214 .

NATIONAL DATA ON SPECIALIST DISABILITY SERVICES 

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has released its report ‘Disability Support Services 2007-08: national data on services provided under the Commonwealth State/Territory Disability Agreement’. This identifies almost one quarter of a million people who used specialist disability services during that period and the agencies and outlets that provided those services. Employment services experienced the highest growth (46 per cent); real expenditure per employment service user grew more modestly at 4.4 per cent. Key trends in service provision are also examined using five years of national data collected for the CSTDA Minimum Data Set.

The following statistics relate to people with deafblindness and vision disability.

Users of CSTDA-funded services, sex and primary disability group by age group (Table 2.4, pages 16 to 17)

Total deafblindness 529 (0.2 per cent)

Total vision disability 7516 (3.1 per cent)   

Users of CSTDA-funded services, primary disability, all ages (Table 2.5, page 18)

Total deafblindness with other significant disability 299; without other significant disability 230

Total vision disability with other significant disability 3020; without other significant disability 4496

Users of CSTDA-funded services, needs an interpreter for spoken language other than English (Table 2.8, page 23)

Total deafblindness 20

Total vision disability 146

Users of CSTDA-funded services, needs an interpreter for non-spoken communication (Table 2.8, page 23)

Total deafblindness 132

Total vision disability 422

Users of CSTDA-funded services, does not need an interpreter (table 2.8, page 23)

Total deafblindness and not stated 377

Total vision disability 6948

Open employment service users by disability group (Table 2.11, page 27)

Total deafblindness 0.1 per cent

Total vision disability 4.9 per cent

Supported employment service users by disability group (Table 2.11, page 27)

Total deafblindness 0.7 per cent

Total vision disability 6.5 per cent

For more information, read the AIHW media release at http://www.aihw.gov.au/mediacentre/2009/mr20091203.cfm, the report summary and a link to the full report at http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10751, and NDS members can read the NDS News Update of 14 December at http://www.nds.org.au/national/default.htm.