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"In recognizing the need for a set of questions that would produce internationally comparable data on children, the Washington Group formed a subgroup in 2009 that is chaired by the National Statistical Office of Italy (ISTAT). UNICEF joined the subgroup in 2011.

The first main activity of the subgroup was the development of a short set of questions to reflect current thinking on child functioning for inclusion in censuses and surveys. The new module uses the ICF-CY as the conceptual framework and relies on a functional approach to measuring disability.

The Washington Group/UNICEF Module on Child Functioning, finalized in 2016, covers children between 2 and 17 years of age and assesses functional difficulties in different domains including hearing, vision, communication/comprehension, learning, mobility and emotions. To better reflect the degree of functional difficulty, each area is assessed against a rating scale. The purpose is to identify the subpopulation of children who are at greater risk than other children of the same age or who are experiencing limited participation in an unaccommodating environment. The set of questions is intended for use in national household surveys and censuses"

The module is being translated into multiple languages. Supporting documentation, including a concept note, tabulation plan, templates for reporting, guidelines for interviewers and training materials are also available.

This paper explores the development of disability measures for use in censuses and surveys that can serve to monitor the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (UNCRPD) and to disaggregate indicators identified through the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development and implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The need for data to implement policies and the challenges to the collection of valid and reliable disability data are presented, and the work of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics (WG) is provided as a means to the collection of internationally comparable disability data. By standardizing data collection instruments used to identify the population with disabilities it will be possible to provide comparable data cross-nationally for populations living in a variety of cultures with varying economic resources. The resulting data can be used to assess a country’s compliance with the UN Convention and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and, over time, monitor their improvement in meeting the established requirements.

Disability & the Global South (DGS), 2017, Vol. 4 No. 1

The aim of this study was to assess the access of people with disabilities to education, employment and health as well as their needs for and inclusion in social protection in comparison to people without disabilities in Morropon, a semiurban district located in Piura, northern Peru. The study comprised two phases: a disability survey in the general population (phase 1) and the assessment of access to education, employment and health, as well as needs for social protection (phase 2). Disability was screened using the Washington Group short questionnaire

The general approach to the collection of statistics on disability by the Washington Group on Disability Statistics is outlined. The group uses the social model of disability, looking at what in the environment makes it difficult to participate. They use neutral language, asking about difficulties rather than disabilities and consider there to be a spectrum of disabilities (mild-severe)  

Recommendations for data collection of the short set of 6 questions devised by the Washington Group for Disability Statistics are given. The questions are phrased to ask whether the subject has difficulty with any of the domains of functioning. They have been field validated. It is recommended that the questions are presented without initial screening questions, that the enumerators are well trained and that the translations from the original English are appropriate. Four domains are highlighted from the 6 if required by space or time. 

This paper describes "the work of the Washington Group and explicates the applicability of its approach and the questions developed for monitoring the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities"
BMC Public Health, Vol 11, Suppl 4

“"This paper compares the construct and predictive validity of a set of disability questions tested on a sample of respondents in five Asia-Pacific countries. It finds that the construct validity of the Washington Group questions for the seeing, hearing, mobility and self care domains is good when WHO questions for the corresponding domains are used as a benchmark; this does not, however, apply to the questions for the cognition and communication domains. The Washington Group questions perform similar to corresponding WHO questions in terms of predictive validity. For the four models examined - explaining difficulty with household responsibilities, work and school, and joining community activities, as well as employment status - the different question sets perform similar in terms of significance and magnitude of the odds ratios"

This presentation presents three methods of disability data collection: one method that highlights cognitive testing undertaken in 15 countries to ensure validity and to better understand how questions operate; another method which field tested the Washington Group questions versus extended questions in two countries to ensure internal consistency; and a SINTEF study in Zambia. It concludes with specific recommendations about disability data collection. It would be useful for people interested in the definition and measurement of disability