The Use of the Functional-based Data in Empowerment Plan of Persons with Disabilities in Rattanaburi District, Surin Province

Abstract

Background: Thailand has approximately 3.7 million people with disability or 5.5% of total population. Many authorities recognize importance of enhancing accessibility to service and their quality of life improvement according to The Empowerment of Person with Disabilities Act 2007. However, there was limitation of applying survey data for rehabilitation the data was not represent actual capability and requirement of disabled person. The world health organization (WHO) therefore issued The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework for disabled person data collection.
Objective: To present disabled person’s functional data following ICF framework
Methods: A descriptive study performed secondary data analysis of functional data questionnaire for person with disability according to ICF framework in area of Nong Bua Thong sub-district, district of Rattanaburi, Surin province during October to December 2017 which included 449 persons with disability.
Results : Person with disability in area of Rattanaburi and Nong Bua Thong sub-districts accessed to national disability registry 19% and 2.9% respectively. Average age of person with disability was 56 years. Majority of person with disability is married and living with their spouse, has elementary educational level and worked as worker and farmer before disabled. Most of them could not return to their work after disabled, consequently, decreasing in family income. Common types of disability were visual impairment, deaf, dumb, mobility and cognitive impairment. Most of disabled person was elderly that has difficulty in mobilization inside and outside home, postural change from sitting to standing and stair walking. Thus, supporting equipment for mobilizing and building home environment are appropriated for elderly with disability in this area. There were 440 persons with disability enrolled in national registry, 98.0% received disability pension and 97.8% received elderly pension. Equipment that person with disability required most are urine catheter or diaper following by mobilization aid. There were 133 disabled persons required home environment building but lacked of budget and consultant. Bathroom is the most required for modification according to limited resource for renovation. Accessibility to disable health coverage welfare was 83.7% (376 persons). According to the disability welfare survey, not all disabled person accessed to the government subsidy. In order to improve the disabled person’s quality of life, information of functional disability and requirement of disabled person should be suggested to the responsible authority along with integrated co-working among community network to develop action plan to improve disabled person’s quality of life.
Conclusion: ICF conceptual framework can be adopted for disabled person’s data collection to categorize by their type and functional disability including be more holistic aspect of disabled person by integrated medical and social dimensions. Based on concept that functional ability of person is considered as interaction between physical or mental status and environmental factor. Hence, public health sector should also promote accessibility of disabled person to the disabilities welfare for instance, promote receiving medical coverage according to the disabilities act, accessibility to receive disable aid and equipment, occupational training and employment. Consequently, improve quality of life of disabled person and their family.
Keywords: disabled person, functional ability, ICF framework