Disability rights advocates now have new interactive data tools they can use to push for policy changes worldwide.
A pair of new databases tracks whether the rights of persons with disabilities are asked about and realized in various countries.
They were created this year as part of the Disability Data Initiative, which was launched in 2021 by Fordham professor Sophie Mitra and a team of Fordham students. They’re part of a group of tools and studies that are making data on disability inequalities across countries widely accessible. In the past, a lack of data has hindered advocates who were lobbying political leaders to make changes.
“When people advocated for disability rights, people would say, ‘There’s no evidence of inequality.’ Now you can tell them there is evidence,” Mitra said. “So that hurdle is gone.”
Novel Databases Grounded in a Human Rights Framework
The Questionnaire Review Database tracks the existence of questions that ask about functional difficulties (e.g. difficulty seeing, hearing, walking), in a way that can be compared across countries.
Using color-coded maps, the database displays the results from reviews of more than 3,000 censuses and surveys from about 200 countries and territories. In countries where such questions are missing, persons with disabilities are likely to be “invisible” in national statistics and hence in policy debates, Mitra said.
The Estimates Database includes statistics based on data from household surveys and population censuses that include functional difficulty questions. It has statistics for adults aged 15 and older in 40 countries at national and subnational levels.
It opens onto a page displaying stats from Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda, but a drop-down menu allows users to select any of the countries in the list. Intra-country statistics are also available to zoom in on local areas.
A Worldwide Effort
The driving force for the Disability Data Initiative, which expanded in 2023 to include contributors from universities in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America, has been to provide tools and support for policymakers and advocatesMitra noted that the Initiative has already gotten some traction. It was utilized in the creation of the World Bank Disability Data Hub, and it was featured in the 2025 Global Disability Summit. Mitra also presented the initiative this month at a United Nations conference on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
She plans to expand the databases to include additional countries and merge other information, such as climate data, into them.
The initiative was primarily supported by the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund and Fordham University.