To be peed off that the Census doesn’t ask about disability?

[RickiTarr]

It asks about “health conditions” but I don’t regard myself as ill, just disabled.

Anyone else?

I don't want a rehash, I'm just wondering if you can actually distil to a sentence exactly what the problem is. All I'm seeing is convoluted nitpicks based around the misconception that unless you define yourself as having an illness, this question is impossible to answer and therefore excludes disabled people.

Can you rephrase that politely @CurseMyTinyThumbs ?

No.

@ClarkeGriffin

If it says physical or mental health condition OR illness, then I'm not really sure what you're complaining about. I've seen people on here complaining that they got called disabled, now there's complaints that the word disabled isn't being used. They can't win.

In think the main point is that some people see themselves as having a health condition but not being disabled (as you say).

Conversely, some people absolutely accept that they are disabled in some sense, but don’t view themselves as having a health condition.

Thirdly, some people who do fit the legal definition of disability, don’t view themselves as having either - deaf and autism communities being two notable groups some of whom can be quite adamant and/or politicised about that.

So you are left with two overlapping issues of data capture and self determination/self image.

If one presumes that the Census designers want to collect the most accurate data, and they don’t want to cause offence (they usually don’t - see previous improvements on religion and ethnic group questions) I would suggest the questions in that section aren’t optimal.

How do you word that though without causing offense? As you say, some people don't like being called disabled, so you can't use that word. You don't like it being a physical or mental health condition, or illness. So you have to phrase the question without using any of those words. Not sure how you word that to be honest.

@ClarkeGriffin

How do you word that though without causing offense? As you say, some people don't like being called disabled, so you can't use that word. You don't like it being a physical or mental health condition, or illness. So you have to phrase the question without using any of those words. Not sure how you word that to be honest.

Having ruminated in it for a couple of days, I think the answer is to have the answer costing questions, plus a “Do you consider yourself to have a disability?” question and a “Do you have a developmental condition or specific learning difficulty (eg dyslexia, ADHD, Aspergers etc)?” question.

The wording might need a a slight tweak but I think with two additional questions along those lines, they’d catch everyone they are trying to identify.

“ answer costing questions,” = “existing questions” 🙄

I mean yeah, if you'd wanted the census form to be three times as long because every special interest group demanded the same questions be asked several different ways to satisfy everybody's different peccadilloes, you could do that.

I still can't see where it says 'health condition'. I see physical condition and mental health condition.

Physical condition would cover all sorts of physical disability. Physical condition is broader and encompasses everything physical from acute/chronic illness to anatomical or developmental differences.

They covered the disability part of that by asking whether it affects daily life.

@LAgeDeRaisin

I still can't see where it says 'health condition'. I see physical condition and mental health condition.

Physical condition would cover all sorts of physical disability. Physical condition is broader and encompasses everything physical from acute/chronic illness to anatomical or developmental differences.

They covered the disability part of that by asking whether it affects daily life.

Which did you tick @LAgeDeRaisin ?

I ticked no. Rather than try to imply that I can't have an opinion if I don't have a disability, you could just address the content of my actual post.

I don't have a physical or mental health condition, but I am a medical doctor and thought the question was inclusive and accurate.

Indeed it fits with the WHO first pillar of disability

"Impairment in a person’s body structure or function, or mental functioning; examples of impairments include loss of a limb, loss of vision or memory loss."

It goes on to refer to causes of disability as a variety of 'conditions'. "Conditions present from birth" "developmental conditions", "aquired injury", "progressive conditions" and "longstanding conditions".

The term 'condition' is used because it is broad and covers absolutely everything from illness to a difference in anatomy.

Physical condition and mental health condition cover all of these.

*acquired

Pretty sure there was a box I ticked about disability

I was just trying to establish whether you have experience of these thought processes personally @LAgeDeRaisin

In the final analysis the main aim of the exercise is to capture accurate & complete data, and a perfectly valid (and indeed useful) secondary aim is to use terminology that is acceptable and recognisable to the demographic you are addressing.

That’s just good survey design, I think.