This Policy Bulletin is the second in an annual series reporting on the social inclusion/exclusion of young Australians with self-reported long term health conditions, impairments or disabilities. The first Policy Bulletin – Left Behind: 2013 reporting on the time period 2001-2011, reported that disabled Australian adolescents and young adults were more likely to experience social exclusion than their non-disabled peers, and that the gap between the two widened between 2001 and 2011.

This Policy Bulletin updates Left Behind: 2013 by extending the mapping to the year 2012, the latest year for which data are available. The findings address two key questions:

• How did the social inclusion of young Australians with disabilities compare with that of their peers in 2012?

• Did the gap between the social inclusion of young Australians with and without disabilities narrow or widen over the 12 year period from 2001 to 2012?

The findings indicate that social exclusion among adolescents and young adults with disabilities increased markedly from 2001-2011, and increased from 2011 to 2012. The Policy Bulletin suggests that the gap in social inclusion between young Australians without disabilities and those with disabilities did not narrow in any analysed category, such as education, and employment, across the period of study.

The Policy Bulletin also notes that this widening gap occurred despite social intervention, and efforts to create disability-inclusive policies. The paper concludes with the hope that the rollout of the NDIS will help to narrow the gap between young Australians with disabilities and peers without disabilities.