From experiences to numbers: the production of international disability statistics

Abstract

The call for internationally comparable data on disability has been omnipresent in recent disability politics. Several attempts have been made to develop and implement a standardized approach toward disability statistics, with the Washington Group Short Census Questions (WGSQ) being the most prominent. How does this questionnaire ‘measure’ disability? How do disability statistics translate the diversity of lived experiences into ‘objective’ numbers? Combining a sociology of quantification and disability studies, this article focuses on the social practices of disability statistics that contribute to the generation of ‘disability’ as a social category. After contextualizing ‘disability’ in international organizations’ discourses, it uses document analysis to empirically reconstruct statistical experts’ recommendations regarding definition, operationalization, data collection, and processing. The analysis shows how binary categorical boundaries are (re)introduced and successively objectified during this process. It also unfolds a risk-based approach that underlies the WGSQ and deviates from a social model of disability.

POINTS OF INTEREST

• International Organizations like the United Nations use statistics to illustrate that disabled persons do not have the same opportunities as others.

• For most people, statistics simply mirror reality. However, the article shows that making statistics requires many activities, discussions, and decisions.

• The research looks in detail at a questionnaire developed by international experts. It shows how people are categorized as a ‘person with disabilities’ or a ‘person without disabilities.’

• Today, many people and international organizations agree that the way society is built disables persons with impairments. However, this questionnaire does not cover this social dimension.

• This research is important because it shows that statistics are not politically neutral and have an impact on the lives of disabled persons.

Keywords:

• Disability statistics
• sociology of quantification
• disability studies
• international organizations
• sociology of knowledge

Acknowledgments

The author thanks Marion Müller, Annelen Fritz, and Mona Haddada for their helpful comments on previous versions of this text. She also thanks the two anonymous journal reviewers for their detailed, and constructive feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The Washington Group on Disability Statistics - Home (washingtongroup-disability.com).

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemein-schaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) - 429805091.