People generalize the term of disability as persons with physical impairment, who lost a part or an ability of body. This common concept is merely based on limited facts. The limited meaning of disability which is only covering loss of anatomical structure causes undercoverage in data collection on disabled persons, and then it results in underestimated data.
At the Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities(CRPD) in New York, 2007 the world agreed that the persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.
Identification of Persons with Disability
Based on the convention agreement, it is not guaranted that a person looks physically normal are not categorized as disabled. The disability can not be certain by how the persons with it look, but needs a deeper observation. Each person can have more than one type of disabilities. Therefore, when dealing with the respondents we have to ask one by one the kinds of the impairment that they may have, such as impaired vision, hearing, mobility of legs or arms, remembering and concentrating, behavior and emotions, communication, and ability to manage theriselves. Particularly for impaired children, some additional questions about impairment in playing and learning are applied. The common cases in children are autism and hyperactivity disorder.
Disability Data Collection Instrument
The Washington Group (WG) on Disability Statistics was established in 2001 under the auspices of the United Nations, and has put forth a short set of question instrument. Itis known as Washington Group (WG) recommended instrument. It enabled the disability data comparison among countries. The set of questions was administered at household levelwith inquiring any kind of impairmentsuffered. The answers were provided in a form of scale according to the level of difficultythe respondents had; some difficulty, a lot of difficulty, cannot do at alland none.
Data Collection and Publication on Disability Statistics
There are few countries that have conducted the specific survey on disability and published it exclusively. BPS has paid attention on this kind of data since 1980 by put some questions in the questionnaire Population Census, Socio-economic Survey, PODES, and Data Collection for Social Protection Programs. However, the definition concept, questions, types of disability coverage have not been internationally standard, for example based on WG recommendation. On 7 May 2014, BPS launched its standard instrument for disability survey which was a result of fruitful collaboration with UNFPA, WHO, and UNICEF, involving relevant ministires and agencies, experts, researchers, and disability care organizations.
The launching event with the theme "Making Their Hidden Situation, Unhidden" aimed to provide equality and non-discrimination among human being in the development process. The instrument are specifically grouped into three types: household, adult (18 years and above), and child (2-17 years old) instrument. Identification of disability and its types are included in the set of questions for adults and child, such as when became disabled, causes of disability, assistingtools used, and accessibility to public facilities, education, employment, and politics.
The other important thing in disability data collection is special training course for field enumerators. The training focuses on sensitivity in disability matters, and recognizing characteristics, needs, and obstacles of the persons with disabilities.
Disability data is important to support development program and policy making. It is the responsibility of all parties to encourage equality for the persons with disabilities and prohibit all discrimination on the basis of disability. Therefore, the data colletion on disability must be conducted through a special survey.
