In Australia the extent and nature of violence against people with disability varies by impairment.

This fact sheet is third in a series on violence against people with disability in Australia and is based on current data for men and women aged 18-64 years. Data are sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2016 Personal Safety Survey where people have reported on their recent experience of violence in the last 12 months and since the age of 15, referred to here as Lifetime Experience.

The survey invites people to disclose impairments. We report on data using this term acknowledging that disability stems from the interaction between impairments (a limitation in function) and societal barriers created by attitudes, structures and environments.

Prevalence estimates are for individual impairment types including: physical; sensory (including sight and hearing) and speech; cognitive (including intellectual impairments, stroke, head injury and brain damage); and psychological impairments.

Many people report more than one impairment type and not all impairment types are represented in these data.

The additional fact sheets in the series include:

• Violence against people with disability in Australia 
• Violence against young people with disability
• Intimate partner violence and people with disability