An update on the profile of children with affirmative responses to the 2021 Census questions on difficulties with activities of daily living

This study presents an updated sociodemographic profile of children aged 0 to 14 years with affirmative responses largely based on parent reports to the questions on the 2021 Census long-form questionnaire about difficulties with activities of daily living. As part of the Disability Screening Questions, these filter questions were designed for an adult population aged 15 years and older to identify people who are likely to have a disability, and thus, relatively little is known about their suitability for a child population. In 2021, about 16.3% of children were identified as having one or more affirmative responses to the filter questions, an increase of nearly 3 percentage points from 2016. The sociodemographic associations between the presence of any affirmative responses and child and family characteristics were largely in line with findings from previous research on child disability, although some interesting results were noted given the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Future research is required to further assess the suitability of these filter questions for generating an appropriate sampling frame for prospective data collection activities that inform inclusivity in early learning and child care for children with long-term conditions and disabilities.