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The Quality of Life of Disabled Children

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Enhancing the Quality of Life of People with Intellectual Disabilities

Part of the book series: Social Indicators Research Series ((SINS,volume 41))

Abstract

In this chapter I discuss two dominant approaches to thinking about and measuring the quality of life or well-being of disabled children (social indicators of living conditions compared with psychological indicators of well-being). I then present three examples of the use of social indicators to illustrate the nature and level of material and social disadvantage faced by disabled children when compared with their non-disabled peers. These examples focus on: (1) changes in the quality of life of disabled Australian children (age 0–14); (2) the quality of life of very young children in the UK who are at risk of disability; (3) the quality of life of young disabled children in Bangladesh, Macedonia, Mongolia and Thailand. I conclude by highlighting some of the pragmatic and conceptual implications of adopting one of these dominant approaches to conceptualizing the quality of life of disabled children.

A note on terminology: Throughout this chapter I will use the term ‘disabled children’ in preference to the alternative term ‘children with disability/ies’. This choice reflects the emphasis placed within social models of disability on the ways in which social structures and practices actively make people disabled.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    One option in such circumstances would be to collect information from proxy respondents (e.g. a parent or a sibling). Unfortunately, however, the existing research suggests that there is very poor agreement indeed between self-report and information collected from proxy respondents on such matters as happiness or life-satisfaction (Cummins, 2002; Eiser & Morse, 2001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Disability Research, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK

    Eric Emerson

  2. Australian Family and Disability Studies Research Collaboration, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

    Eric Emerson

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Correspondence to Eric Emerson .

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  1. , Department of Accounting and Finance, Monash University, PO Box 197, Caulfield East, 3145, Victoria, Australia

    Ralph Kober

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Emerson, E. (2010). The Quality of Life of Disabled Children. In: Kober, R. (eds) Enhancing the Quality of Life of People with Intellectual Disabilities. Social Indicators Research Series, vol 41. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9650-0_14

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