Disability in New Zealand: Overview of the 1996/97 Surveys

Disability in New Zealand: Overview of the 1996/97 Surveys
Date of publication: October 1998

Disability is part of the universal human experience, with some people experiencing it earlier and more severely than others. There is a need for greater understanding of the extent of disability: what causes it, where we find it, how people are affected by it, and their health and disability care needs when they are disabled. Until now, however, there has been limited information available on disability in New Zealand.

The Disability Surveys carried out by Statistics New Zealand in 1996 and 1997 provided the first national, population-based data on disability in this country. This report makes a significant start to the comprehensive analysis of this data, identifying areas of unmet need and providing the first national information on which to base policy, service development, and resource allocation for health and disability services.

The report also sets a baseline for future surveys, and its value will be increased when it forms part of a series of such studies carried out over time to demonstrate the shifts and trends in disability needs.

This report is an overview study, however, and further, more detailed analysis of the data in the surveys will provide an even more informative picture of disability in New Zealand.

We recommend this report to a wide audience, but in particular those agencies with an interest in disability services.

The report is a joint publication by the Health Funding Authority and the Ministry of Health, and provides a model for future work where our two organisations have similar information needs.

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