The Economics of Disability: International Perspectives

The impact of disability within a nation is mediated by the provisions which exist for impairment prevention, for rehabilitation of people who are disabled and for coordination of the various social benefit and labor market actions taken with regard to disabled people and their families. The paper reviews available international research on the socio-economic impact of disability prevention and rehabilitation measures based upon a Rehabilitation International analysis of literature in this field from 40 countries and studies of the United Nations. Key issues include: the cost of disability, the family impacts, displacement from the labor force, social benefit and disability policies, and the application of cost/benefit analysis to these processes-the tool and its limitations. Available research confirms the United Nation study finding that while disability will create a cost in every society regardless of whether or not rehabilitation services exist, "the more a society recognizes these costs, and the more it attempts to ameliorate them through provision of adequate disability prevention and rehabilitation services, the greater is the overall economic return that may be expected."