[Posted: Thu 22/09/2011 by Deborah Condon www.irishhealth.com]
Up to one in five people in Ireland has a long-term disability and most of these have major difficulties performing every day activities, a new report has shown.
The report, A Social Portrait of People with Disabilities in Ireland, set out to examine the different circumstances of people with disabilities in this country.
Based on figures from the 2006 Census and the National Disability Survey (NDS), it estimated that between one in five and one in six people have a long-term disability, with most of these disabilities being ‘acquired through the life course rather than being present from birth'.
The report noted nine different types of disability, with the average person having between two and three different disabilities.
