Disability and Research

Wherever we live or whatever we do or with whom we live, disability will always be something that will be part of us ……… if we want to know or even if we do not. With increasing age disability for sure will be something that we all will encounter. It can be age or it can be outside forces that will result in disability, like for example a traffic or any other accident. It is estimated that more than a billion people or about 15% of the population in the world live with some form of disability. Disability research is therefore important not only for the individual or the family, but certainly also for the society that has to adapt and facilitate an easier life and better service for this segment of our populations. For example research from the United States found significant disparities in the prevalence of disability between urban and rural residents with rural residents having the highest prevalence of disability. Such epidemiology and survey research can be important tools for public health focus and intervention and guide policy makers to allocate budgets and service facilities and expertise. In this book we have gathered some recent disability research from various places around the world that we hope will be of interest to the reader.