Now We Are 12: The Impact of Disability on Young People and Their Family. Snapshot 8

The New Zealand (NZ) Government has a vision for NZ to be a non-disabling society. The 2013 New Zealand Disability Survey estimates that the disability prevalence rate for children and young people under 15 years was approximately 11% (15% for rangatahi Māori). Disabled people are more likely to experience disadvantage across a wide range of outcomes including education, housing, economic security and health and wellbeing.

The NZ Disability Strategy outlines outcomes in relation to different areas of importance to disabled people, including equitable access to and attainment of high standards in education, economic security, and health and wellbeing. During the 12-year data collection wave (DCW), Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) set out to gather data on disability that highlights the factors affecting progress towards achieving these outcomes.

There are two documents available.

The original snapshot provides an overview of the findings of this study and includes:

• Descriptive statistics of self-reported disability at age 12 years
• Outcomes at age 12 years, including health and wellbeing, relationships, sense of safety, and education.
• Impacts of family disability, including family structure, housing factors, and economic wellbeing
• Implications for policy and practice.

The document entitled 'Supplementary material for Now We Are 12: The impact of disability on young people and their family' provides the full report to the reader. This includes:

• Background information on disability
• How disability was defined for this topic
• Describes the proportion of 12-year-olds who self-report having a functional deficit indicative of having a disability
• Compares those young people who self-reported having a functional deficit indicative of having a disability with parent report.
• Considers health, wellbeing and educational outcomes for all young people identified as having a disability
• Describes characteristics of family's who experience disability in the cohort child and/or parent/s
• Describes family disability by household and economic factors across time, including rurality, tenure, crowding, mobility, income, deprivation, and material hardship
• Relevance for policy and practice
• Limitations of this study