Persons with disabilities’ education and quality of life: evidence from Malaysia

ABSTRACT

The need for more inclusive education policies for persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Malaysia has long been discussed. This study sought to investigate the association between levels of education with quality of life (QoL) of PWDs. The study was cross-sectional, using the WHOQOL-DIS instrument to assess QoL level of PWDs. The instrument comprised of three global items and seven domains. The global items assessed the overall QoL, health satisfaction and impact of disabilities on life of PWDs, while the seven domains measured the physical health, psychological health, social relationships, environment, discrimination, control and inclusion. A total of 339 PWDs participated in this study, stratified based on types of disabilities; hearing and speech, visual, and physical. The nonparametric Mann–Whitney test was used to compare the mean scores of global items and domains with the level of education. Findings from this study revealed that PWDs with higher education level generally have a better QoL. Physically disabled persons scored the lowest for almost all the domains, while visually impaired persons scored the lowest for domains related to facilities. Hearing and speech impaired persons felt they were more discriminated against compared to their counterparts. Hence, in the formulation of education policy for PWDs, the government ought to focus on the environmental domain for the visually impaired and the physical domain for the physically impaired.

KEYWORDS:

• Disabilities
• education
• inclusive
• Malaysia
• WHOQOL-DIS

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by University Malaya Research Grant (UMRG): [grant number RP013A-13SBS].