It is important to disaggregate data by disability in order to understand the different ways in which persons with disabilitiesexperience a crisis and to monitor their access to assistance. In principle, data disaggregated by sex and age should alsobe disaggregated by disability.
The most widely tested tools used to generate comparable data about persons with disabilities are the Washington Group QuestionSets and the World Health Organization's Disability Assessment Schedule. There is a growing consensus52 that the Washington Group Short Set of Disability Questions generates sound, internationally comparable data that can bedisaggregated and collected without discrimination and added quickly and inexpensively to censuses and surveys. It is beingused increasingly in humanitarian contexts. (See Annex 2 for a short overview of these tools, including commentary on their use in humanitarian contexts.)
It is important to understand that these tools can be used to disaggregate data but are not useful for the identificationof particular health conditions or diagnostic categories.53 They should not be employed for individual assessment or targeting in the absence of complementary data on needs and riskfactors, including barriers.