Since the 2010 round of censuses, all Latin American countries have asked questions on disability. Likewise, eleven countries have included questions on this subject in household surveys and seven countries in the region have administrative records of the population with a disability certificate or card.
However, there are still great difficulties in generating statistical information that is comparable among the different countries in the region that also allows for monitoring the exercise of the rights of persons with disabilities.
These difficulties are mainly because the measurement of disability varies depending on how it is defined. For example, the question aimed at measuring disability is different if it is understood from an individual or a medical perspective (do you have a disability?) than if it is defined from a structural and social perspective (do you have difficulty performing any of the following activities?). Similarly, there may also be differences in how disability is measured depending on the measurement instrument chosen (census, household surveys, administrative records), the aspects of disability to be measured (e.g., type of disability) and the characteristics of the available sources of information. These difficulties are observed to a greater extent in sources of information such as administrative records where the exploitation of information for statistical purposes is still incipient in the countries of the region.
Within the framework of ECLAC's technical assistance to the Buenos Aires Group, the Washington Group's regional group on disability statistics, this report presents a proposal for measuring disability for administrative records in education at the initial, primary, secondary, tertiary and higher education levels to be applied in Latin American countries. The proposal developed includes a set of questions according to the type of administrative record and adaptations for each educational level. It also includes recommendations and instructions for the persons in charge of applying the questions, to improve the collection of the information obtained and to offer a framework for the comparability of the data collected.
The purpose of the proposal is, by using the same set of questions to be included in the administrative education records, to contribute to generate comparable information between countries and for each country on the student population with disabilities. The proposal developed includes a set of questions according to the type of administrative record and adaptations for each educational level. It also includes recommendations and instructions for the persons in charge of applying the questions, to improve the collection of the information obtained and to offer a framework for the comparability of the data collected between countries.
The work carried out seeks to advance towards a framework of comparability and harmonization of statistical information on students with disabilities in Latin American countries. Having updated and comparable information on the population of students with disabilities is essential for the development of educational policies and the design of common strategies for full educational inclusion and to improve the quality of education of children and adolescents in the region. It is hoped that this work will not only contribute to the improvement of statistics on the population with disabilities in the educational context but will also serve as an experience to be replicated in administrative records in other sectors such as health and labor, among others.
Read the publication (only available in Spanish) Medición de la discapacidad a través de los registros administrativos de educación en América Latina: diagnóstico y recomendaciones para avanzar hacia la armonización regional here.
