A/72/128 II. Housing realities of persons with disabilities A. Statistical challenges 8. It is estimated in the World Report on Disability 2011 that persons with disabilities make up between 15.6 and 19.4 per cent of the global population. The percentage is higher in lower-income countries, at 18 per cent of the population, compared with 11.8 per cent in higher-income countries. 6 There are therefore more than 1 billion persons with disabilities around the world, yet little data are publicly available on the housing circumstances of that population. 9. The lack of consistent implementation of accepted methods of surveying persons with disabilities has led to significant variance in data, making comparisons across countries or regions difficult. 7 General surveys and censuses conducted by household often overlook individuals who are homeless or living in unrecognized informal settlements, institutions or group care facilities. When information has been collected on persons with disabilities, narrow definitions have usually been applied and housing concerns ignored. 10. The Washington Group on Disability Statistics has developed two standard sets of questions for surveying populations. The short set covers six core areas of activity and has been adopted by 70 countries. It provides the best opportunity for States to obtain disaggregated data that will allow international comparisons and benchmarks. 8 The extended set of questions covers a greater range of domains of functioning, a number of which are associated with psychosocial impairments. 9 Neither set addresses housing. The best way to obtain reliable data on housing and disability is to conduct surveys based on the extended set of questions of the Washington Group, supplemented by questions on housing and homelessness. 11. Surveys of the existing housing conditions of persons with disabilities reveal significant inequality in the enjoyment of the right to housing. In such a survey conducted by the Republic of Korea in 2015, it was found that persons with disabilities were far more likely than others to have difficulty paying rent and other housing expenses, less likely to have “suitable” housing and more likely to have housing that did not meet the minimum standards of habitability. 10 B. Housing experiences of persons with disabilities 1. Stigmatization, discrimination and criminalization 12. Stigmatizing notions of disability as an abnormality, inferiority or medical condition associated with disease manifest acutely in the housing experience s of persons with disabilities. People with disabilities are often forced to remain in their homes because of stigma and fear of violence. Proposed housing for persons with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities is frequently subject to neighbourhood opposition, and residents are frequently shunned or ostracized by neighbours. __________________ 6 7 8 9 10 6/23 World Health Organization and World Bank, World Report on Disability 2011 (Geneva, WHO Press, 2011), pp. 25-29. Ibid., pp. 21-29. The short set of questions is available from www.washingtongroup-disability.com/washingtongroup-question-sets/short-set-of-disability-questions/. The six questions relate to seeing, hearing, walking, cognition, self-care and communicating. The extended set is available from www.washingtongroup-disability.com/washington-groupquestion-sets/extended-set-of-disability-questions/. See the submission by the Republic of Korea for the present report. 17-11724