Disabled people continue to fare worse than non-disabled people across many aspects of their lives, with increasing numbers experiencing loneliness and discrimination, Stats NZ said today.
The Washington Group short set (WGSS) of questions on activity limitations has been included in June quarters of the household labour force survey (HLFS) since 2017. In 2020 these questions were also included in the December quarter, to allow better monitoring of how disabled people are faring over the COVID-19 recovery period.
"While most New Zealanders are doing well, as the country recovers from COVID-19, many disabled people continue to experience worse wellbeing outcomes than non-disabled people," wellbeing and housing statistics manager Dr Claire Bretherton said.
New data from the wellbeing supplement added to the HLFS shows that, on average, Kiwis rated their overall life satisfaction at 8 out of 10 (where 0 is completely dissatisfied and 10 is completely satisfied) in the December 2020 quarter. Disabled people, however, rated their overall life satisfaction lower, at an average of 7.1 out of 10.
Disability status is strongly correlated with age, as older people are more likely to be identified as disabled. However, people aged 65 years and over are less likely to participate in the labour market and can often have quite different wellbeing outcomes to younger people. To reduce the impact of this age effect, the rest of the data used here is for adults aged 18-64 years only.
Within this age group, average overall life satisfaction for disabled people was just 6.7 out of 10, compared with 7.9 for non-disabled people. Two-fifths of disabled people aged 18-64 years gave a low rating (0-6) for overall life satisfaction, around 3 times the rate for non-disabled people.
"Lower overall life satisfaction is often associated with poorer outcomes in other aspects of people's lives, such as loneliness, inadequate income, and poor health," Dr Bretherton said.
"Disabled people continue to fare worse than non-disabled people across many of these measures."
| Wellbeing measure | Disabled |
| Lonely most/all of the time | 13.8 |
| Experienced discrimination | 39.5 |
| Not enough money | 27 |
| Low family wellbeing | 31.2 |
| Low life worthwhile | 27 |
| Low overall life satisfaction | 39.5 |
| 9.4 | 18.3 |
|---|---|
| 32.8 | 46.2 |
| 20.8 | 33.2 |
| 25.1 | 37.4 |
| 21.3 | 32.7 |
| 33.4 | 45.6 |
| Wellbeing measure | Non-disabled |
| Lonely most/all of the time | 3 |
| Experienced discrimination | 19.4 |
| Not enough money | 7.4 |
| Low family wellbeing | 16.4 |
| Low life worthwhile | 10.9 |
| Low overall life satisfaction | 13.5 |
| 2.7 | 3.4 |
|---|---|
| 18.3 | 20.5 |
| 6.7 | 8.1 |
| 15.4 | 17.5 |
| 10.1 | 11.8 |
| 12.6 | 14.3 |
Loneliness and discrimination increasing for disabled people
Data from the December 2020 quarter shows little change for disabled people across most wellbeing measures since the June 2020 quarter (the last time disability status was collected). However, experiences of loneliness and discrimination have increased for disabled people over this time, while remaining fairly constant for the non-disabled population.
Discrimination means being treated unfairly or differently compared to other people, for reasons such as gender, ethnicity, appearance, and disability or health issues. In the December 2020 quarter, 40 percent of disabled people said they had experienced discrimination in the previous 12 months, up from 30 percent in the June 2020 quarter. This compares to 19 percent of non-disabled people in both the June and December 2020 quarters.
The percentage of disabled people who had felt lonely at least a little of the time in the previous four weeks, increased from 49 percent in the June 2020 quarter to 59 percent in the December 2020 quarter. Over the same period, there was no change in the proportion of non-disabled people who felt lonely at least a little of the time (43 percent).
Disabled people tend to be less happy and more anxious
The December 2020 quarter is the first time questions on happiness and anxiety have been asked in conjunction with the WGSS. This allows us to look at how these outcomes differ between disabled and non-disabled people.
| Happiness rating | Disabled |
| 0 to 2 | 7.7 |
| 3 to 4 | 11.4 |
| 5 to 6 | 18.1 |
| 7 to 8 | 36.1 |
| 9 to 10 | 26.7 |
| 4.4 | 10.9 |
|---|---|
| 7.8 | 15 |
| 13.6 | 22.6 |
| 29.7 | 42.6 |
| 21 | 32.5 |
| Happiness rating | Non-disabled |
| 0 to 2 | 1.5 |
| 3 to 4 | 3.2 |
| 5 to 6 | 12.2 |
| 7 to 8 | 41.8 |
| 9 to 10 | 41.4 |
| 1.1 | 1.8 |
|---|---|
| 2.8 | 3.6 |
| 11.4 | 13 |
| 40.5 | 43 |
| 40.1 | 42.6 |
| Anxiety rating | Disabled |
| 0 to 2 | 44.8 |
| 3 to 4 | 12.7 |
| 5 to 6 | 18.5 |
| 7 to 8 | 13.8 |
| 9 to 10 | 10.2 |
| 38.8 | 50.9 |
|---|---|
| 8.5 | 16.8 |
| 14.4 | 22.6 |
| 9.3 | 18.2 |
| 6.4 | 14.1 |
| Anxiety rating | Non-disabled |
| 0 to 2 | 60.6 |
| 3 to 4 | 13.2 |
| 5 to 6 | 14.1 |
| 7 to 8 | 9.9 |
| 9 to 10 | 2.2 |
| 59.4 | 61.9 |
|---|---|
| 12.3 | 14.1 |
| 13.2 | 15 |
| 9.1 | 10.7 |
| 1.8 | 2.6 |
When asked about how happy they felt the previous day, disabled people were less likely to rate their happiness highly, at 7 or above (out of 10), compared with non-disabled people. Almost 1 in 5 disabled people rated their happiness the previous day at four or below, compared with less than 1 in 20 non-disabled people. This was reflected in lower average happiness ratings for disabled people (6.8) when compared with non-disabled people (7.9).
Similarly, disabled people were more likely to report higher levels of anxiety the previous day, with almost a quarter rating their anxiety level as high or very high, at 7 or above out of 10, and less than half reporting very low anxiety levels (0-2). This compares with just 12 percent of non-disabled people who reported high or very high anxiety levels, and 61 percent who reported very low levels. On average, disabled people rated their anxiety the previous day higher, when compared with non-disabled people (3.7 and 2.5 out of 10, respectively).
"The addition of wellbeing questions to the HLFS has shown a number of other groups with poorer wellbeing outcomes. These include unemployed people; those not in the labour force due to their own illness, sickness, injury, or disability; Māori and Pacific peoples; sole parents of dependent children; and employed people who think they have an almost certain or high chance of losing their job in the next 12 months," Dr Bretherton said.
"Disabled people are also overrepresented in many of these groups".
About the data
Stats NZ collected this information as part of a wellbeing supplement added to the HLFS. The supplement included a selection of questions from the general social survey, which has been delayed until April 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Stats NZ began collecting the information in the June 2020 quarter and will continue collecting it until the March 2021 quarter.
