In an online discussion on Saturday, KND Chairperson Dante Rigmalia stated that her commission identified several issues related to people with disabilities in Indonesia, one of which is data collection of disabled individuals that had yet to be optimal.
"The number of people with disabilities in the population administration system is less than 800,000. Meanwhile, WHO noted that the number of people with disabilities is 10 percent of the population," she remarked.
According to Statistics Indonesia, the country's population reached 281 million in mid-2024. Thus, the number of people with disabilities should be around 28 million.
Data that is currently available is split across ministries and agencies. For instance, data on people with disabilities who attend school is available within the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology.
The current data collection efforts have failed to capture information about disabled persons who have not attended school yet.
While the Ministry of Health maintains data on disabled individuals accessing the national health insurance program, it lacks data on unregistered individuals within this demographic.
This issue has hindered the rights of people with disabilities to access education, health insurance, employment, and social welfare under Law Number 8 of 2016 on People With Disabilities.
"This has caused people with disabilities to be left behind in many aspects," she noted.
She explained that the KND is carrying out its task of holding a dialogue with ministries and agencies on implementing regulations, policies, and budgets for people with disabilities, including a database to ensure services are provided to them.
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Translator: Prisca Triferna, Raka Adji
Editor: Anton Santoso
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