Disability still hitting work in valleys

12:30pm Monday 5th January 2009

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WORK -limiting disability among people living in the Gwent valleys remains high, according to new figures from the Assembly - with legacies of the industrial past and poorer than average health and economic status among the key reasons.

A report charting the prevalence of disability across Wales during 2004-07 reveales that while almost one-in-five people (19.1 per cent) of working age have a disability as defined under the Disability Discrimination Act, the figure is above one-in-five (21.8 per cent) in Torfaen, almost a quarter (24 per cent) across Caerphilly, and more than a quarter (27.4 per cent) in Blaenau Gwent.

The 1995 Act (DDA) defines disability as "a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long term adverse effect on a person's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities."

The figure for Blaenau Gwent is the highest in Wales, and equates to 11,400 people in 2007, several hundreds higher than in any of the previous three years.

The burden of disability understandably falls heaviest on the older population, exacerbated in former mining and heavy industry areas by the consequences to health of such work. In Blaenau Gwent more than half (55.5 per cent) of people aged over 55 are defined as DDA disabled, more than twice as many as in Monmouthshire (26.1 per cent.

But Blaenau Gwent, of Wales' 22 local authority areas, also has the second highest rate of DDA-defined disability among 16-24 year-olds with one-in-eight (12.5 per cent), compared to Newport, which has the lowest such rate in Gwent (6.7 per cent).

Physical disability, respiratory or heart problems, long-standing or progressive illness, and other health problems are all above the Wales average in Blaenau Gwent, and in Torfaen and Caerphilly too.

Back and neck problems are the most common physical disabilities reported, while diabetes is a major chronic disease issue.