Defining disability: effects of disability concepts on research outcomes

Abstract

This article presents analyses of how different definitions of disability affect the outcomes of studies of disabled people’s living conditions. Three different definitions of disability are compared using six rather common variables: gender, age, living arrangements, education, labour market participation and income. Selected definitions of disability are administrative definitions, a subjective definition and a functional definition. Analyses were conducted using compilations of several databases in Sweden. Recurrent differences between administrative definitions, on the one hand, and functional and subjective definitions, on the other, are found in relation to educational and labour force variables. People defined by an administrative definition are more likely to be younger and single than the people defined by the other two definitions. More research on the impact of disability definitions is needed. However, a first step in resolving this question would be to improve the methodological awareness of disability researchers.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research through grant DNR 2002‐0565. I would like to thank my tutor Professor Mårten Söder, the participants of the Gysinge Seminar Group at the Department of Sociology, Uppsala University, and Associate Professor Mitchell LaPlante, University of California, San Francisco, for important comments and suggestions on earlier versions of this article.

Notes

1. Region is measured using population density regions constructed by Statistics Sweden.