One main conclusion of the discussion is that we need more and more valid data on people with disabilities to be collected and reported in national statistics and sustainability reports. For the moment large groups of people with disabilities are excluded from national surveys. We therefore lack of information on their quality of life. Without data, the visibility of people with disabilities is reduced and inclusion is much harder to achieve.

The forum focused on two main topics:

1. Barriers in surveys on people with disabilities and ways to overcome them

2. The inclusion of people with disabilities in the process of data collection

Christian Grünhaus (prev. Schober)from WU Vienna presented conclusions on a research project that focused on the inclusion of peoples with intellectual disabilities in standardized quality of life surveys.

Daphne Ahrendt from Eurofund presented results from the 4th European Quality of Life Survey and reported on the social and employment situation of people with disabilities.

Sirinart Tongsiri from Mahasarkham University in Thailand spoke on the use of International Classification of Functioning with Disabilitiy and Health (ICF) to demonstrate differences in PWD's quality of life before and after receiving interventions.

Christine Hemphill from Open Inclusion in London emphasized that a mixed methodology research in inclusive design and policy assessment is much better than either a quantitative or qualitative approach alone.

Francesca Cesa Bianchi from the Global Initiative for Inclusive ICTs presented the DARE Index, a benchmarking system that compares countries on their digital accessibility

Sumita Kunashakaran from Disabled People’s Association in Singapore reported on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in Singapore. She strongly criticized the lack of inclusion of people with disabilities in preparing the parallel report.

Teresa Royo from Dhub in Spain gave an insight in the upcoming project of Disability Hub Europe (DHub). The DHub aims to foster social and labour inclusion of people with disabilities in Europe while promoting inclusive and sustainable business.

The discussion on the panel and with the audience clearly showed that people with disabilities need to be included in survey design and data collecting processes.

However, whether standardized population surveys are suitable for assessing the quality of life of people with disabilities was rather controversial. Tailor-made solutions may be better. Anyway, it needs some more research on this important topic in order to get valid data.

https://conference.zeroproject.org/