CAN WE COUNT THEM: TOWARDS BETTER DATA SOURCES ON DISABLED CHILDREN AND THEIR HOUSEHOLDS

 

ONE DAY CONFERENCE

 

14 March 2007

 

Panorama Room, Rootes Social Building,

University of Warwick,

Coventry, CV4 7AL

 

There are substantial existing administrative, census, and survey data on childhood disability that provide valuable insights into the lives and circumstances of disabled children and those closest to them. The limitations of national data on disabled children and their families however, are widely recognised. As a consequence, our understanding of this important group within the population is limited in fundamental ways.

 

A team from the Disability Studies Research Group at the University of Warwick is currently carrying out a study, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, to scope existing quantitative national and regional data sources and to consider their strengths and limitations in order to inform the future development of more robust data.

 

This conference aims to:

 

• Consider present and future challenges for collecting data on disabled children and their households
• Share findings from the ESRC project Can We Count Them?

 

PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME

 

10:00	Registration and coffee
10:30	Welcome: Dr Janet Read, University of Warwick
10:35	The National Data Strategy: Relevance for Childhood Disability Data Professor Peter Elias, ESRC and University of Warwick
11:00	Can We Count Them? Disabled Children and Their Households Project: The Project in Context and its Findings Dr Janet Read, Professor Nick Spencer and Dr Clare Blackburn, University of Warwick
11:40	Questions and Discussion
12:00	Perspectives of Disabled Children and Young People Dr Sonali Shah, University of Leeds
12:30	Buffet lunch
1:30	Future challenges for data collection on disabled children and their households: A perspective from the Office for Disability Issues Grahame Whitfield, Principal Research Officer, Office for Disability Issues, Department for Work and Pensions
2:15	Concurrent workshops: a. What can ethnographic work with children contribute? Chairs - Dr Alan Prout and Dr Pia Christenson, University of Warwick b. Issues of definition and question design Chairs - Professor Dave Gordon, University of Bristol and Professor Nick Spencer, University of Warwick c. Sampling and data sets Chair - Dr Susan Purdon, Quantitative Methods Advisor, NatCen d. How can perspectives from the Disability Rights Movement shape data collection on disabled children? Chair Dr Chih Hoong Sin, Head of Information and Research, Disability Rights Commission
3:30	Tea and close of conference