UN Washington Group Report and Next Steps

1. UN Washington Group Report and Next Steps Barbara Altman Daniel Mont Kampala, Uganda October 2006

2. Presentation Outline • Need for Recommendations • Proposal For Report • Next Steps

3. Need for Recommendations • UN Commission Meeting (March 2007) • Discussion Paper • Continued existence • Upcoming Censuses • Disability questions will be included • Crucial time to offer guidance Need to do something now. Perfection shouldn’t be the enemy of the good.

4. Proposal for Report • What we agree on: • Purpose for census is equalization of opportunities • Questions shouldn’t contain the word “disability” • Functional approach based on ICF • Scaled Responses • Four core domains are… • Seeing • Hearing • Walking • Cognition

5. Why those four domains? • Basic activity level links up with purpose • Captures large proportion of target population • Easier to capture • Cultural comparability is easier • Mode portability (mail, phone, face to face)

6. Suggestions for Additional Domains • Self-care • Policy making issue • Identifies most vulnerable • Communication • Link to participation • Easier to measure than other important domains

7. What about other domains? • For example, psychological, learning, upper body, etc. • Recognize their importance • Harder to target on census • Some will be picked up by other domains (will re-visit in “Next Steps” section)

8. Question Wording • UN Commission does not recommend specific wording • We suggest an appendix that… • Lists our questions • Provides rationale for wording • Reports on test results • Appear to identify population relative to domains • Numbers and distributions make sense • No notable cultural differences • Report provides basic framework for disability questions • Washington Group endorses use of Q’s as tested

9. Policymaker Needs • Recognize functional questions do not neatly line up with categories policymakers some times need • Explain how combinations of questions and various thresholds can be used to approximate needed categories • Provide examples of how this can be done

10. Next Steps • Prior to report, resolve glasses/hearing aid clause issue • Further analysis to… • better understand test results • work with UNESCAP to understand discrepancies and identify commonalities • Re-visit communication question • Technical assistance to countries • Special populations (e.g., children) • Other methodological concerns (e.g., sampling)

11. Publication of Test Results • Description of process • Results of testing • Comparisons with other work • Sample experiences of countries • Limitations of census questions • Identify issues for further research

12. On to Dublin!