Resources

Disability is best understood as a continuum. In terms of difficulty functioning, the ‘difficulty’ can be operationalized through a range of descriptors from no difficulty at all, through some difficulty and a lot of difficulty to completely unable to carry out the action. Each of these descriptors represents a cut-off or threshold in the determination of a final disability identifier; for example, to define those with and without disability. These levels of functioning are also represented in the response categories to the WG Short Set on Functioning (WG-SS).

Disability is best understood as a continuum. In terms of difficulty functioning, the ‘difficulty’ can be operationalized through a range of descriptors from no difficulty at all, through some difficulty and a lot of difficulty to completely unable to carry out the action. Each of these descriptors represents a cut-off or threshold in the determination of a final disability identifier; for example, to define those with and without disability. These levels of functioning are also represented in the response categories to the WG Short Set on Functioning (WG-SS).

Disability is best understood as a continuum. In terms of difficulty functioning, the ‘difficulty’ can be operationalized through a range of descriptors from no difficulty at all, through some difficulty and a lot of difficulty to completely unable to carry out the action. Each of these descriptors represents a cut-off or threshold in the determination of a final disability identifier; for example, to define those with and without disability. These levels of functioning are also represented in the response categories to the WG Short Set on Functioning (WG-SS).

The Short Set of six questions on functioning for use on national censuses and surveys was developed, tested and adopted by the Washington Group on Disability Statistics (WG). The questions reflect advances in the conceptualization of disability and use the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) as a conceptual framework.

The Washington Group/UNICEF Child Functioning Module (CFM) was developed, tested and adopted by UNICEF and the Washington Group on Disability Statistics (WG). The questions reflect advances in the conceptualization of disability and use the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) as a conceptual framework.

The Washington Group/UNICEF Child Functioning Module (CFM) was developed, tested and adopted by UNICEF and the Washington Group on Disability Statistics (WG). The questions reflect advances in the conceptualization of disability and use the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) as a conceptual framework.

The Washington Group Short Set on Functioning – Enhanced (WG-SS Enhanced) was developed, tested and adopted by the Washington Group on Disability Statistics (WG). The questions reflect advances in the conceptualization of disability and use the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) as a conceptual framework.

The Washington Group on Disability Statistics (WG) has conducted or participated in numerous disability training workshops designed to disseminate information on the collection and dissemination of disability data, and the use of data collected using cross-culturally comparable disability tools developed by the WG. A list of these workshops – by topic, host, or targeted audience – is included below. For each of the categories, the most recent workshop is accompanied by a link to some of the PowerPoint files used during that workshop. Where relevant, and to avoid unnecessary duplication, only the most recent workshop has the set of slides linked.

The WG Short Set on Functioning – Enhanced was developed, tested and adopted by the Washington Group on Disability Statistics (WG). The basic actions represented in this set of 12 questions are those that are most often found to limit an individual and result in participation restrictions. The domains in the WG Short Set – Enhanced expand upon the six WG Short Set domains with the addition of two questions on upper body functionating and four on affect or psychosocial functioning: two questions on anxiety and two questions on depression.

The Washington Group Extended Set on Functioning (WG-ES) is intended for use in population-based health surveys, as well as surveys that focus specifically on disability. The WG-ES was developed, tested and adopted by the Washington Group on Disability Statistics (WG).