Umeå University's logo

This study investigates the main features of collected disability statistics for the censuses in Sweden, 1860–1930, when the disability prevalence rose from four to 21 individuals per thousand of the population. We use qualitative methods to analyze the means of collecting, categorizing, and defining disability, while quantitative methods help us calculate the prevalence by disability type and gender in urban and rural areas. Our long-term findings reveal that this increase reflects new approaches whereby authorities applied alternative methods to collect disability data, using additional sources, wider definitions, and introducing new disability categories. The temporal variations in disability prevalence were influenced by the social and political context and normative views on who was considered disabled or not.

A major organizational change is currently taking place in Swedish sports, with people labelled with disabilities leaving the Swedish Para-sport Federation (SPF) to participate in mainstream sports under the Swedish Sports Confederation. The aim of this study was to map the expectations of this ongoing process of the stakeholders of the SPF.  Based on a questionnaire with 130 respondents connected to the SPF we found that, overall, the respondents were optimistic about mixed training groups, something that could point towards the possibility of equality between PLwD (people labelled with disabilities) and mainstream athletes. However, a rather large number of respondents feared negative consequences in terms of the physical environment for PLwD. This means that inclusion may create a dilemma regarding the relationship between the individual and the environment. We conclude that inclusion works at different levels of organized sport and there is insufficient knowledge about the impact of inclusion.

This article examines the role of advocacy organizations and their use of social media within the field of disability in Sweden. How do the organizations negotiate digital media, and what are the (intentional or unintentional) consequences related to the use of social media? With focus on the representatives of advocacy organizations, we study how they reflect and act in order to balance various motives, and what challenges and ambiguities that arise. On one hand, there is a perceived need to be online and communicate with members and the surrounding society. On the other hand, digital communication induces a divide between those who have the resources to take part in such communication, and those who do not – in terms of digital competence, economy, age, cognitive abilities, technical equipment and digital connection. The heterogeneity of resources and target groups inevitably challenges both the ideals of inclusion and intentions of advocacy organizations.

People with intellectual disabilities are the most disadvantaged group among all disability types when it comes to employment. In Sweden, special needs upper secondary schools prepare students with intellectual disabilities for the labour market using practice periods at workplaces. This study targets stakeholder involved in their school-to-work transition (i.e. teachers, employers, employment agency officials). The aim is to identify how they view: (1) the working capabilities of students during practice periods and (2) their employment potential. We base the analysis on interview data with the stakeholders using Grounded Theory. Our results identify three student types whose preparedness for the labour market differs considerably. One student type performs well during the practice period and represents a high potential to enter the workforce. The other two student types have the lower working capability and employment potential. Our study highlights stakeholders as resources to improve the labour market preparations of students with intellectual disabilities.

Historical studies on the institutionalization of the mentally ill have primarily relied on data for institutionalized patients rather than the population at risk. Consequently, the underlying factors of institutionalization are unclear. Using Swedish longitudinal microdata from 1900–59 reporting mental disorders, we examine whether supply factors, such as distance to institutions and number of asylum beds, influenced the risk of institutionalization, in addition to demand factors such as access to family. Institutionalization risks were associated with the supply of beds and proximity to an asylum, but also dependent on families’ unmet demand for care of relatives. As the supply of mental care met this family-driven demand in the 1930s, the relative risk of institutionalization increased among those lacking family networks.

BACKGROUND: Studies from across the world show that disability limits people’s health and social wellbeing in present-day populations. This disadvantage can lead to premature death, but there is dearth knowledge about the relationship between disability and mortality and changes over time.   

OBJECTIVES: Unique access to longitudinal micro data on comprehensive Swedish populations enabled us to examine how disability affects premature death in men and women from the 1800s until 2010. 

METHODS: Cox proportional regressions were used to estimate mortality hazards by disability status, gender and socio-economic indicators in three study populations from the 1800s, 1900s and 2000s. We followed all adults having disability from age 25 to compare their premature death risks (< age 43) relative to non-disabled groups.

RESULTS: Irrespective of gender and century studied, the adjusted hazard ratios show that adults with disabilities had a significantly higher premature death risk relative to adults without disabilities, and it increased over time. In the 1800s, disability about doubled this risk (HR: 2.31, CI: 1.65–3.22) and it tripled from 1900–1959 (HR 3.01, CI 2.60– 3.48). At the turn of the 21th century, the mortality risk was almost ten-folded (HR 9.90, CI 8.03–10.5). 

CONCLUSIONS: This study provides the first comprehensive estimates on how disability increased mortality in Swedish populations from the 1800s until the 2000s. Across three centuries, disability was associated with a profoundly higher relative death risk in adults aged 25–42. This risk grew when the general survival in Sweden improved and it was the highest in the 1990–2010 period. Fundamental societal changes and extensive welfare provisions promoting equality in gender, health and social wellbeing of all citizens have not come to include younger generations with disabilities. 

This study investigates the main features of collected disability statistics for the nationwide censuses in Sweden from 1860 to 1930. During this period, the disability prevalence rose from four to 21 individuals per thousand of the population. To understand this significant rise, there is a need to peer behind the census numbers to trace Swedish authorities’ approach to measuring disabilities in the population. We use qualitative methods to analyze the authorities’ means of collecting, categorizing and defining disability, while quantitative methods help us estimate the prevalence by disability type and gender across the study period in urban and rural areas. Our long-term findings reveal that the increase of disability prevalence in Swedish populations, and especially the peak in 1930, reflect a new approach to measuring disability. Authorities applied other methods to collect disability data by using additional sources, wider disability definitions, as well as introducing new categories. The temporal variations in disability prevalence were largely influenced by the censuses becoming more scientific in their reporting of disabilities, as well as by societal concerns and by what was viewed as disabling conditions when the censuses were taken.

OBJECTIVES: In this study we ask if employment is beneficial for people with disabilities (psychiatric respectively musculoskeletal diagnoses). We set out two hypotheses: 1) Disabled people with an employment report better health than those without employment. 2) Work conditions affect the extent to whichwork benefits the health.

METHODS: We used longitudinal data, the Swedish Survey of Living Conditions 2002/03 and 2010/11. The number of respondents were 1925 including both people with diagnoses and a control group without any diagnosis. Linear Probability Models were regressed to identify variations between disability groups, as regards the correlation between paid work and self-reported health.

RESULTS: People with diagnoses seemed to benefit from employment, and this was particularly evident for people with psychiatric diagnoses. The effect was also stronger in subjects with severe symptoms from their diagnosis. This may be because people with severe symptoms are more affected by their illnesses, and therefore gain more from participation in everyday activities. Having a job can work as an important source to fulfill various psychosocial needs. Further, experiences of poorer work environments tended to be associated with lower levels of health. This result is important given the trend that policies might result in that disabled people are forced to engage in work activities in order to receive benefits, irrespective of their work preferences.

CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the policy aim to involve the disabled in paid work is appropriate for improving health but policies should be more flexible in relation to individual needs of the disabled.

Our study aims to find how disability affected human health in historical time through an examination of individuals' mortality risks and death causes. Swedish parish registers digitized by the Demographic Data Base (DDB) enable us to account for a relatively high number of persons reported to have disabilities, and to compare them with a group of non-disabled cases. The findings concern a 19th-century population of 35,610 individuals in the Sundsvall region, Sweden, and show that disability increased the premature mortality risk substantially. Disability seems to have jeopardized men’s survival in particular, and perhaps due to gendered expectations concerning the type of work men and women became less able to perform when disabled. Our study of death causes indicates that their deaths were less characterized by infectious diseases than among the non-disabled group, as a possible consequence of lower exposure to infections due to the way in which disability could impede opportunities for interaction with peers in the community. In all, our mortality findings suggest that disability was associated with poor living conditions and limited possibilities to participate in work and social life, which further tend to have accumulated across life and resulted in ill health indicated by premature death.