Today is International Day of People with Disability and the 2020 theme is ‘Not all Disabilities are Visible’. The focus is spreading awareness and understanding of disabilities that are not immediately apparent, such as mental illness, chronic pain, sight or hearing impairments and many more.
Three facts on disability from The World Health Organisation (2020):
- Over 1 billion people live with some form of disability. About 15% of the world’s population live with a disability. This includes about 93 million children and 720 million adults with significant difficulties in functioning.
- Half of people with disability cannot afford healthcare, compared to a third of people without disability.
- Global data show that employment rates are lower for men with disability (53%) and women with disability (20%) than for men without disability (65%) and women without disability (30%).
Stress is a major cause of mental health problems here are some common causes of stress in the UK for you to be aware of:
- 46% reported that they ate too much or ate unhealthily due to stress. 29% reported that they started drinking or increased their drinking, and 16% reported that they started smoking or increased their smoking.
- Younger people have higher stress related to the pressure to succeed. 60% of 18-24 year olds and 41% of 25-34 year olds cited this, compared to 17% of 45-54s and 6% of over 55s).
- In the past year, 74% of people have felt so stressed they have been overwhelmed or unable to cope.
How are you spreading awareness and improving your understanding around disability? Stress Matters is running a Mental Health Aware course on the 19th January, find out more here.
