How is disability measured in Uganda?

The Ugandan National Population and Housing Census 2014 – Main Report identifies 4 questions to be asked about disability.

1. Does [name] have difficulty seeing even if he/she is wearing glasses?
2. Does [name] have difficulty hearing even if he/she is using a hearing aid?
3. Does [name] have difficulty walking or climbing steps?
4. Does [name] have difficulty in remembering or concentrating?

Was this disabled woman included in the National Population and Housing Census 2014 – Main Report?

The Disability Information from Censuses Washington Group on Disability Statistics (WG) shows that these 4 questions are based upon a set of 6 core questions identified by the Washington Group for the World Health Organization (WHO) to standardize reporting of disability around the world. These 6 core questions are part of a larger set of questions. The 6 questions provide an indication of the total number of disabled people by assessing the majority of PWDs, The 6 questions were designed to show the major exclusions of disabled people from social life (see Washington Group on Disability Statistics Rationale for the Short Set). These questions were selected because disability is often seen as being about exclusion. These core questions identify how the majority of disabled people are excluded from society. The 6 questions are

1. Do you have difficulty seeing, even if wearing glasses?
2. Do you have difficulty hearing, even if using a hearing aid?
3. Do you have difficulty walking or climbing steps?
4. Do you have difficulty remembering or concentrating?
5. Do you have difficulty (with self-c are such as) washing all over or dressing?
6. Using your usual (customary) language, do you have difficulty communicating, (for example understanding or being understood by others)?

These 2 sets of questions are limited to social exclusions based on physical inability. They do not identify all forms of disability and should in no way be taken as such. 3 examples will suffice to prove that:

1. A person with polio may have no difficulty climbing 5 flights of stairs at age 15. Later in life they may become more impaired.
2. An albino may answer no to all the questions but encounter problems associated with stigmatization and prejudice.
3. At the time of the interview a person with mental health problems may have no trouble answering no to all these questions and may be significantly incapacitated at other times.

The prevalence of disability was identified as 16% by the 2002 National Population and Housing Census. The Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) Act 2006 redefined disability in Uganda after the definition of disability was challenged (see UN Convention on the Rights of PWDs, Uganda’s Initial Status Report 2010.

The 6 core questions identified by the Washington Group show the major exclusions of PWDs. They do not identify all PWDs. The  2014 National Population and Housing Census used only 4 of those questions and identified the number of PWDs to be 12.5% of the population. It is unknown how many additional PWDs were missed by these 4 questions.

There is little doubt that the total figure of 12.5% disabled assessed in 2014 in Uganda is wildly inaccurate. And further more by selecting only a subset of questions about exclusion, it shows the government of Uganda is ignoring other social issues like prejudice and stigmatization because of own ignorance of the real problems of PWDs.