By bobb |

PricewaterhouseCoopers released Disability expectations; Investing in a better life, a stronger Australia; a report on disability (see http://www.pwc.com.au/industry/government/publications/disability-in-au…) and the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). It says Australia does especially poorly on disability issues when compared with other OECD countries ...

One of the most telling and challenging statistics is that Australia ranks 21st out of 29 OECD countries in employment participation rates for those with a disability. In addition, around 45% of those with a disability in Australia are living either near or below the poverty line. These facts alone show us that we need to change.

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Almost one in two people with a disability in Australia live in or near poverty (45%). This is more than 2.5 times the rate of poverty experienced in the general population and more than double the OECD average of 22%. The OECD average for relative poverty risk is approximately 1.6, which indicates that people with a disability tend to have a poverty risk about 1.6 times higher than people without a disability. Australia is by far the worst performer on this indicator, ranking 27th out of 27 OECD countries, with a relative poverty risk of 2.7.

Unfortunately, PricewaterhouseCoopers' report seriously understates ASD prevalence (see http://a4.org.au/a4/node/425).

Also, note that people with autism/ASD fare far worse than the average for people with a disability (see http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4428.0main+features72009).

The OECD report can be purchased from http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/sickness-di… but A4 is not funded to pay for things like this.

Some related media stories and blogs can be found at: