ABSTRACT
Measuring the extent to which a child's disablement affects families financially is not a simple task. Disablement can affect the economic functioning of an individual and of the family to which she belongs in a great many ways. Its effects can also spill over beyond the immediate household - to extended family members living elsewhere, to the local neighbourhood and to the community at large, through the provision of statutory and voluntary services and through the loss of output of disabled people themselves and of those whose employment is affected by the need to care for them. The discussion that follows concentrates on the effects experienced by the disabled individual and the immediate family. It encompasses both children and adults with disabilities. Clearly, however, there will be differences in the effect according to the age of the disabled person and his or her relation to the labour market.
