Abstract
The Washington City Group, formed by the United Nations Statistical Commission, is a strong impetus for progress in disability statistics among nations. The Group tackles contentious issues related to complex matters of definitions, concepts, classifications, statistical methods, tabulation, analysis plans and policy relevance of data. The Group: (1) Resolves contradictory survey research methods and approaches to disability; (2) Incorporates internationally agreed definitions, concepts and classifications into proposed statistical guidelines; (3) Increases participation and representation of persons with disabilities in statistical planning; (4) Pilots disability survey questions across nations, regions, cultures and languages; and (5) Seeks ways to identify policy implications from the test results. The Washington Group is in a position to propose international statistical standards and guidelines for monitoring population shifts in functioning and disability. It succeeds in its goals when it carries its proposals back to the United Nations Statistical Commission for review, approval and implementation.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Chamie, M. (1995). What does morbidity have to do with disability? Disability and Rehabilitation, 17, 323–337 [PubMed].
Chamie, M. (2011). Disability and international health. In D. J. Lollar & E. M. Andersen (Eds.), Public health perspectives on disability: epidemiology to ethics and beyond (pp. 185–210). New York: Springer.
Groce, N. E., Chamie, M., & Me, A. (1999). Measuring the quality of life: Rethinking the World Bank’s disability adjusted life years. International Rehabilitation Review, 49, 12–5.
Grosse, S. D., Lollar, D. J., Campbell, V. A., & Chamie, M. (2009). Disability and disability-adjusted life years: Not the same. Public Health Reports. Mar–Apr; [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE PMID 19320360]; 124(2), 197–202. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2646475/. Accessed 9 June 2015.
Mont, D, & Loeb, M. (2008). Beyond DALYs: Developing indicators to assess the impact of public health interventions on the lives of people with disabilities (SP Discussion Paper No. 0815). Washington: The World Bank. http://siteresources.worldbank.org/SOCIALPROTECTION/Resources/SP-Discussion-papers/Disability-DP/0815.pdf. Accessed 9 June 2015.
Murray, C. J. L., & Lopez, A. D. (Eds.). (1996). The global burden of disease: a comprehensive assessment of mortality and disability from diseases, injuries, and risk factors in 1990 and projected to 2020. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
United Nations (1986) Development of Statistics of Disabled Persons: Case Studies, Series: Y, No. 2, Sales number: 86. XVII.17; http://unstats.un.org/unsd/publication/Seriesy/Seriesy_2E.pdf
United Nations (1990) Disability Statistics Compendium Series: Y, No. 4 Sales No. E.90, XVII.17. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/publication/SeriesY/SeriesY_4e.pdf. Accessed 9 June 2015.
United Nations (2008) Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, Revision 2. Series: M, No. 67/Rev. 2, Sales No. 07.XVII.8. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/publication/SeriesM/Seriesm_67rev2e.pdf Accessed 9 June 2015.
United Nations Statistics Division, United Nations (2014a). City Groups http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/citygroup/index.htm. Accessed 9 June 2015.
United Nations Statistics Division, United Nations (2014b). Washington Group http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/citygroup/washington.htm. Accessed 9 June 2015.
World Health Organization. (1980). International classification of impairments. Geneva: Disabilities and Handicaps (ICIDH) World Health Organization.
World Health Organization (1992), International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems, tenth revision (ICD-10) Geneva (Vols. I, II and III) Geneva. http://www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/. Accessed 9 June 2015.
World Health Organization. (2001). International classification of functioning, disability and health (ICF) Geneva. http://www.who.int/classifications/icf/en/. Accessed 5 June 2015.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Chamie, M., Heumann, J. (2016). What If Here Were No Washington City Group?. In: Altman, B. (eds) International Measurement of Disability. Social Indicators Research Series, vol 61. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28498-9_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28498-9_18
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28496-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28498-9
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)