Counting persons with disabilities in the Population and Housing Census 2022 those are left uncounted
Access Bangladesh Foundation in association with Disability Rights Fund, DCF, NCDW, Sitakund Fedaration, Turning Point and WDDF arranged a press conference on “Observations of the Organizations of Persons with disabilities on Data collection of persons with disabilities in the Population and Housing Census 2022” on 22nd June 2022 at Dhaka Reporters Unity.
Albert Mollah, Co-founder and Executive Director of Access Bangladesh Foundation chaired the press conference and Chairperson of the organization Mohua Paul Delivered her welcome speech. He said, “There is no reliable data of persons with disabilities in Bangladesh. Dissimilarities are found in the data of persons with disabilities collected by different sources. For example-percentage of persons with disabilities in the population census 2011 is 1.41%, in Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2010 is 9.07%, in HIES 2016 is 6.94%, in Disability Identification Survey is 2579399 (till June 21, 2022) and in National Survey on Persons with Disabilities, 2021 is 2.8%. It seems from the observations received from 145 persons with disabilities throughout the country, that the accurate number of persons with disabilities may not be reflected in the census 2022 as the enumerators did not collect data on persons with disabilities properly. It was an opportunity for the country to collect information about persons with disabilities from this census which is essential for preparing appropriate plans, and programs and allocating resources for them.
“Today’s press conference is arranged to share with you the observations of 145 persons with disabilities on this census and to take measures by the government to keep open the server for including persons with disabilities who are left uncounted” stated Albert Mollah.
Ashrafun Nahar Misti, Executive Director of WDDF presents the observations received from the field. Important observations are- most of the enumerators of the census did not ask any disability-related questions; did not ask whether there is any person/s with disabilities in the house, and did ask only some basic questions (name, age, educational qualification, marital status, profession, address) and left keeping the questionnaire incomplete; did not collect data accordingly even after mentioning the disability by persons with disabilities, did not count every house; in Dhaka city, they asked the caretakers of some apartments about the number of flats and number of people live in one flat and then left; some said that there is no option to include disability-related data in the questionnaire though it was mentioned in the questionnaire; in some cases, when inquired about disability-related questions and information, the enumerators said that it is optional, somewhere the enumerators left the houses asking just about the number of people lives in the house.
Speakers of the press conference urge strongly the government to count persons with disabilities as those who are left uncounted in the census by keeping the digital system active and issuing necessary office orders.
The conference was attended by journalists from print and electronic media, persons with disabilities, representatives of civil society, organizations of persons with disabilities and non-government organizations.
