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Overview | Model | Assessing | Disability survey (5) | Demand (2) | Using guidance | Example

The disability survey

Introduction | Further details | Sensory capability | Cognitive capability | Motor capability

Cognitive capability describes the combination of thinking and communication capabilities. The Disability Follow-up Survey found that 5.7% of the GB adult population have less than full ability in one or both of these categories. The GB adult population was 45.6 million people at the time of the survey.

A person with full thinking ability can perform tasks such as

  • Hold a conversation, without losing track of what is being said
  • Write a short letter to someone without help
  • Count well enough to handle money
  • Remember a message and pass it on
  • Remember the names of friends and family that are seen regularly

A person with full communication ability can

  • Communicate with strangers with no difficulty

Each person's thinking ability was measured by counting up the number of everyday tasks they were unable to perform. This approach does not relate to cognitive science which makes it particularly challenging to interpret the results in terms of product exclusion.

Overlapping circles show that 0.9% of the population have both thinking and communication at less than full ability.

Prevalence of the population with less than full ability in intellectual function and communication, where the overlapping circles indicate the population that has capability losses in both categories