Individuals reporting ‘a lot of difficulty’ or ‘cannot do at all’ to the questions should be counted as having a disability when doing data analysis.
Categorizing Disability The IDMS Tool integrated both the general categorizations of disability (Physical, Sensory, Learning Disability, Mental Disability, Multiple) and the official government categorization of disability based upon the recommendation of National Council on Disability Affairs: • • • • • • • • •
Deaf/Hard of Hearing Intellectual Disability Learning Disability Mental Disability Orthopedic Disability Physical Disability Psychosocial Disability Speech and Language Impairment Visual Disability
Enumerators need to be familiar with the characteristics and differences between and among these categories. Finding out how these disability categories link to the respondent’s answers to the WGQs, therefore, only helps identify or validate the presence of disability. Individuals reporting “having a lot of difficulty” or “cannot do at all” on questions 1, 2, 4 and 6 will have difficulty in Accessing Information. Individuals reporting “having a lot of difficulty” or “cannot do at all” on questions 3,4,5, 6, on the other hand, will have difficulty in Acting on Information. Individuals who report high across both of these grouping of questions will have difficulty in Accessing Information and Acting on Information.5 Guidelines in using the questions are available online (https://www.washingtongroup-disability. com) and are included in the IDMS Resource Materials.
5 Ibid. IDMS GUIDEBOOK
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