A report prepared by the ESRC Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion - London School of Economics examines the link between social exclusion, health and disability. It identifies that the majority of disabled people experience the onset of their health problem or impairment in adulthood. According to a survey carried out in the mid-1990s, 11 per cent of disabled adults of working age were born with a health problem or impairment, 12 per cent became disabled during childhood, and the remaining three-quarters became disabled during working life.
One of the early findings of this research - and one which has also been noted elsewhere (for example, Jenkins and Rigg, 2003) - is that the onset of disability is by no means a random occurrence. On the contrary, those who are already disadvantaged are at significantly greater risk of becoming disabled. There are strong associations between being poor, being out of work, having low educational qualifications and the risk of developing a long-term health problem or impairment. Many of these risk factors are amenable to policy intervention.
The onset of ill health or impairment often entrenches and deepens pre-existing disadvantage, and this too is preventable. For these reasons the prevalence and distribution of ill health and impairment in society should be regarded as more akin to a phenomenon which we have chosen to fail to prevent, than to a natural disaster......"
