Las personas con discapacidad en América Latina a 20 años de los consensos de El Cairo: la necesidad de información para políticas y programas

The main objective of this paper is to examine the progress that the countries of Latin America have made in the collection of data on persons with disabilities through the censuses taken during the two decades originally agreed as the deadline for implementing the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, adopted in 1994, when a section was devoted to this population group. For this analysis the forms used in the last three census rounds were examined, considering the inclusion of this item in the questionnaires, the paradigm underlying its inclusion and adherence to international recommendations. We also describe and analyze some indicators developed using census microdata from the countries of the region for the 2000 and 2010 rounds, in order to illustrate, on the one hand, unresolved issues concerning the gathering of census information on disabilities and, on the other, the potential for using such information in developing a sociodemographic profile of people with disabilities in Latin America.