Methodology 

The first phase related to interviewing all of the members of a household or residents in the same that suffered some kind of disability or limitation. They were therefore asked a series of questions to determine all of the disabilities that each person suffered. They were also asked for information on all members of the household in relation to age, sex, nationality, marital status, relation with the main person in the household and other basic issues such as the level of education, relation with economic activity, professional situation, occupation, establishment activity, health cover, possession of disability certificate or internment in a collective establishment during the last 12 months. They were also asked for information on the type of household and the composition of the same, the amount of regular income received by the household and any social or extraordinary benefits received.

This was divided into two different questionnaires depending on whether the person was 6 years or more, or a child aged up to 6 years.

A. Questionnaire on the disabilities and deficiencies of people aged 6 years or more

The aim was to interview people aged 6 years or more that are the targets of the study, i.e. that suffer from some disability. A questionnaire was given on disabilities and deficiencies to any people aged 6 years or more in the household that had stated in the previous questionnaire that they suffered from a disability. They were asked to report on the level of severity of each disability, the developmental forecast, the age when it started and any additional information on technical aids or personal care whether received or applied for, as well as any deficiency that had originated from any of these disabilities.

Once the disabilities that had been caused to each of the people as a result of their deficiency had been determined, we asked about the problem that caused this deficiency, its duration, and the age it started. They were also asked questions in relation to personal care, whether they belonged to non governmental organisations or charities, and also about changes of residence as a result of suffering from the disability. A part of the questionnaire deals with the amount of use of health and social services: types of services, the frequency of use and requests satisfied and not satisfied. They were also asked whether they receive or have received any type of financial or physical aid.

In order to analyse social integration, they were asked for information on their relation with economic activity before and after the onset of the disability, any measures for promoting their employment and the problems faced by inactive or unemployed people, as well as their level of finished studies, studies being taken and integration at school.

B. Questionnaire on the disabilities and deficiencies of people aged 0 to 5 years

Questionnaire aimed at the population aged less than 6 years and that currently suffer from some kind of limitation that is the target of study of the survey. This publication does not present the results for this population, due to the small number of people that were interviewed, which has meant that the estimation of results is not statistically significant enough.

Information is collected on a single member of each of the households interviewed, who is selected randomly from all members. This phase of the survey has not been exploited in relation to this presentation of the results.

The survey is aimed at the population that resides in main family homes. The sample technique used is that of the stratified two-stage sample.

In the first stage, the census sections are selected. For each province, the sections are grouped into strata, on the one hand, in accordance with the demographic importance of the municipality to which they belong, and on the other, in accordance with the socio-economic category of the households located there.

In forming the strata, we considered two types of municipality. The self-represented are those that a result of their category within the province must always have sections in the sample. Self-represented municipalities are those that are:

• The capital of the province
• Municipalities that due to their number of inhabitants and due to proportional affixation within the province corresponded to at least 12 sections of the sample.
• Municipalities with an outstanding situation within the sample but where there are no other similar ones with which they can be grouped, even though they proportionally correspond to at least 12 sections of the sample.

Co-represented municipalities: these are those that within the province form part of a group of demographically similar municipalities and that are represented commonly. In accordance with this classification, we establish new and different strata that correspond to the previous concepts. Censuses and population registers are the sources used and which provided the necessary information to update the stratification for each province, in accordance with the distribution of the population of the municipalities.

To form the substrata, we considered the socio-economic category of the households located in the sections. This information made it possible to classify the economically active population of the section into four groups:

• Labourers
• Self-employed workers
• Managerial and professional employees and administrative personnel
• Other workers

There are sixteen substrata, fifteen of which are formed in accordance with the percentage population of groups 1, 2, 3 and 4, and the sixteenth is formed by the sections with a high number of inactive people.

In the second stage, we selected family homes, of equal probability by using random start systematic sampling. In order to fill in the health questionnaire, we randomly selected one member of the household.

The sample was made up of 79,000 family homes throughout Spain, distributed into 3,000 census sections. For Catalonia, the sample was 7,443 households and 21,713 individuals. The affixation of the sample was performed using mixed affixation. The sections were distributed into provinces by assigning uniform and fixed parts, and the remainder in a proportional way to the size of the province. The distribution between strata was performed proportionally to the size of the stratum, but strata were strengthened if they contained larger sized municipalities, as it was expected that there would be greater variability in the behaviour of the population.

The sections were selected using a probability that was proportional to their size. Homes were selected, in each section, using systematic random start sampling method. To select the person who was to fill in the Health Questionnaire, we used a random system that assigned the same probability to all of the people in the household.

Disability is any serious limitation that affects or is expected to affect for more than a year the ability of the sufferer and that originates from a deficiency. A person is considered to have a disability even when they have managed to overcome it thought the use of external technical aid.

The disabilities of people aged 6 years or more are as follows:

• 1. Seeing: people with serious or important seeing difficulties, whether short-sighted or long-sighted. Unlike other disabilities, this group only contains very important difficulties that have not been overcome though the use of glasses or contact lenses, whatever the cause might be.
  • 1.1. Disability in receiving any image
  • 1.2. Disability in overall visual tasks
  • 1.3. Disability in detailed visual tasks
  • 1.4. Other visual disabilities
• 2. Hearing
  • 2.1. Disability in receiving any sound
  • 2.2. Disability in hearing loud sounds
  • 2.3. Disability in hearing speech
• 3. Communicating
  • 3.1. Communicating through speech
  • 3.2. Communicating through alternative languages
  • 3.3. Communicating through non-signing gestures
  • 3.4. Communicating through conventional reading and writing
• 4. Learning, applying knowledge and performing tasks
  • 4.1. Recognizing people, objects and orienting oneself in space and time
  • 4.2. Remembering information and recent and/or past events
  • 4.3. Understanding and carrying out simple commands and/or performing simple tasks
  • 4.4. Understanding and carrying out complex commands and/or performing complex tasks
• 5. Getting around
  • 5.1. Changing and maintaining different body positions
  • 5.2. Getting up, lying down, standing or sitting
  • 5.3. Getting around inside the home
• 6. Using arms and hands
  • 6.1. Moving-carrying light objects
  • 6.2. Using utensils and tools
  • 6.3. Manipulating small objects with hands and fingers
• 7. Getting around outside the home
  • 7.1. Getting around without a means of transportation
  • 7.2. Getting around using public transport
  • 7.3. Driving one's own vehicle
• 8. Caring for oneself
  • 8.1. Caring for personal hygiene without assistance: washing oneself and taking care of one's appearance
  • 8.2. Controlling bodily functions and using the toilet without assistance
  • 8.3. Dressing, undressing, grooming
  • 8.4. Eating and drinking
• 9. Performing housework
  • 9.1. Shopping and supervising supplies and services
  • 9.2. Preparing meals
  • 9.3. Washing and ironing clothes
  • 9.4. Cleaning and maintaining the house
  • 9.5. Looking after the welfare of other family members
• 10. Relations with other people
  • 10.1. Maintaining affectionate relationships with close family members
  • 10.2. Making and keeping friends
  • 10.3. Dealing with co-workers, superiors and subordinates

A limitation is considered to be any serious or important difficulty that affects children under 6 years and that originates from a deficiency. In the case of limitations, we are not presenting results here, has stated earlier.

A deficiency is considered to be any loss or anomaly of an organ, or the functions of that organ, that has led to one or several disabilities.

• 1. Mental impairment
  • 1.1. Developmental delay
  • 1.2. Severe mental retardation (intelligence quota between 0-34)
  • 1.3. Moderate mental retardation (CI between 35-49)
  • 1.4. Mild mental retardation (CI between 50-80)
  • 1.5. Dementia
  • 1.6. Other mental disorders
• 2. Visual impairment
  • 2.1. Total blindness
  • 2.2. Poor eyesight
• 3. Ear and hearing impairment
  • 3.1. Pre-speech deafness
  • 3.2. Post-speech deafness
  • 3.3. Hard of hearing
  • 3.4. Balance disorders
• 4. Language, speech and voice impairment
  • 4.1. Muteness (not due to deafness)
  • 4.2. Incomprehensible or difficult speech
• 5. Osteoarticular impairment
  • 5.1. Head
  • 5.2. Spinal column
  • 5.3. Upper limbs
  • 5.4. Lower limbs
• 6. Nervous system impairment
  • 6.1. Paralysis of an upper limb
  • 6.2. Paralysis of a lower limb
  • 6.3. Paraplegia
  • 6.4. Tetraplegia
  • 6.5. Motor coordination disorders
  • 6.6. Other disorders of the nervous system
• 7. Impairment from visceral disorders
  • 7.1. Respiratory system
  • 7.2. Cardiovascular system
  • 7.3. Digestive system
  • 7.4. Genitourinary system
  • 7.5. Endocrine/metabolic system
  • 7.6. Immune and blood-producing system
• 8. Other types of impairment
  • 8.1. Skin
  • 8.2. Multiple impairments
  • 8.3. Impairments not classified elsewhere

The severity of the disability refers to the degree of difficulty the person has for doing a certain activity. This can be:

• 1. Moderate: If the person does the activity with no difficulty, because they receive help or because they can do the activity with only moderate difficulty.
• 2. Severe: A person is considered to have a severe difficulty if they can only do the activity with major difficulty.
• 3. Total: It is considered to be total severity if the person has total difficulty and cannot do the activity.

Two types of aid are considered: technical and personal.

• 1. Technical aid: These are technical products, instruments, equipment or systems addressed at people with disabilities, that were specifically produced for them or that are available to anybody, in such a way that they prevent, compensate for, alleviate or neutralise the disability.
• 2. Personal aid: This is direct aid offered by another person in order for the disabled person to cope with their everyday activities.