Disability Access and Inclusion Framework and Action Plan 2009 – 2013
2. Demographic Data
According to the ABS 2006 Census there were a total of 6,245 persons (2,535 males and 3,710 females) who require daily assistance for core activities. This represents 3.8% of the total population of the City of Monash.
People who need assistance is a new variable for the 2006 Census and has been developed to measure the number of people with a profound or severe disability, that is people needing help or assistance in one or more of the three core activity areas of self-care, mobility and communication because of a disability, long term health condition, or old age. It also includes people living in a high care setting such as a nursing home, and those living with a carer at a private dwelling.
There were a total of 2,149 persons aged 0-64 (1,132 males and 1,017 females) in 2006 who required daily assistance for core activities. This represents 1.6% of this age group.
Of the 135,977 persons aged 15 years or over in 2006, some 13,609 persons (10% of this age group) indicated that they provided unpaid assistance to a person with a disability. Most carers were aged between 35-64 years, with more than 13% of this age group providing unpaid assistance on a daily basis. There were also more than 1,000 people aged 15-24 years who provided care, which suggests a high degree of responsibility for this age group.
A further measure to assess the incidence of disability and the number of carers in the community is to examine selected categories of Centrelink payments. There were a total of 689 Carer Payments for Monash for the March quarter 2007. More than 250 Carer Payments (35% of all payments) fall in Glen Waverley, Wheelers Hill and Mulgrave.
There were a total of 4,500 Disability Support Pension Payments in Monash for the March quarter 2007. It is estimated that 3.5% of the population aged 20-64 years is in receipt of a Disability Support Pension payment. Disability is not confined or heavily concentrated in a few small areas but is spread across the City of Monash.
Updated: 4 November 2009
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