Age, handicaps and the number of handicapped persons

Abstract

The Census of 2000 indicates that 24.5 million persons in Brazil (14.5 of the country's population) have some handicap, a figure that is a good deal higher than the less than 2% shown in previous surveys. This difference is due not to any increase in the rate of handicapped persons, but to a change in the data-collecting instruments, following the latest recommendations from the WHO to include individuais with "some, or great, difficulty to walk, hear, or see" among the handicaped. This innovation allows differentiated diagnoses according to degrees of disability. This article proposes a separate category, within that of the handicapped in general, to encompass those with greater difficulty, referred to in this article as Persons with Perceived Handicaps. Three distinct methodologies (bivariate analysis, logistic repression and correspondence analysis) are used, and the results indicate the aging process as the main determinant for the advent of disabilities in general. We conclude that by including persons wrth "some, or great, difficulty" into the group of the handicapped, the Demographic Census of 2000 ended up classifying a great portion of the senior population as handicapped, a fact that suggests the application of distinct policies for each group.