Life Opportunities Survey
The Life Opportunities Survey (LOS) is a major new national survey of disability in Britain. The survey is being carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on behalf of the Office for Disability Issues (ODI). The ODI leads the government's vision of achieving equality for disabled people.
The LOS starts with a baseline random sample of 37,500 households across Britain, interviewing all people aged 16+ in each household. This baseline survey started in June 2009 and will take two years to complete. The intention is that the LOS will be a longitudinal survey. This means it will track the experiences of disabled people over time to assess transitions through key life stages, such as moving from childhood to adulthood or in and out of work.
Survey topics include work and learning, health, transport, community and social life, leisure, use of key services, caring and domestic life, hate crime and discrimination, income and benefits. Non-disabled people are also taking part in the survey. This means that the life opportunities of disabled and non-disabled people can be compared. This will allow the changes to life opportunities that occur with the onset of impairment to be better understood.
The LOS is the first major government survey to explore disability in terms of social barriers across Britain (England, Scotland and Wales). The survey has been designed to find out about the interaction of social barriers with impairments. The survey also measures the prevalence of different impairments and conditions and collects information on those who have entitlements under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). In addition, the survey also collects information on all equality strands, not just disability.
Further information on the LOS can be found on the Office for National Statistics web site.
Recent data
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