15.11.12
LOS highlights participation barriers for people with disabilities
Transport and leisure activities are the most common areas where people with disabilities find barriers to social participation, a new report suggests.
Part 1 of the Wave Two Life Opportunities Survey (LOS), conducted by the ONS and sponsored by the DWP, compared the participation of people with impairments in work, education, transport and the use of public services.
The most common areas for barriers to social participation were found to be transport and leisure activities, whilst over two-thirds of people with an impairment have a barrier to work.
The LOS seeks to identify reasons why people with impairment do not participate in society as much as they would like and explore whether life opportunities were changing for those with disabilities.
The latest results from LOS show that 34% of people who reported impairments a year ago no longer did so in Wave Two. However 8% of those who did not report an impairment a year ago now reported one.
The report also found that those aged over 65 were more likely to report three or more impairments than those of working age, and the four most common types of impairment were long term pain (66%), a chronic condition (52%), mobility impairment (39%) and dexterity impairment (24%).
Of the people with an impairment at Wave Two but not at Wave One, 40% said they have a barrier in more life areas now than a year ago, while 33 % said they have a barrier in fewer life areas. In contrast, of those who have offset from impairment, 27 % said they have a barrier in more life areas now than a year ago, and 46 % said they have a barrier in fewer life areas.
The report is at: www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/los/life-opportunities-survey/wave-two--part-i/index
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