Disabling Condition and Barriers
This article explains the relationship between:
- The Disabling Condition question; and,
- The Barriers assessment.
Disabling Condition is a universal data element, meaning it is collected on all clients at project START.
Every enrollment should have one Yes/No response for Disabling Condition located on the entry universal data assessment.
You should answer YES to Disabling Condition if the client has any indefinite long-term health impairment (physical, mental, developmental, or emotional), including alcohol or drug abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder, brain injury, or HIV/AIDS.
Self Reported vs Documented: if your project requires documentation of disability in order to qualify for certain assistance, you should apply this higher standard for data co
The Barriers Assessment is required for adults and heads of household in most projects. The assessment is collected at project START, UPDATE(s) and EXIT. The assessment asks specifically if any of the following barriers or impairments are present and whether they are chronic/indefinite:
- Alcohol Use Disorder
- Chronic Health Condition
- Developmental Disability
- Drug Use Disorder
- HIV/AIDS
- Mental Health Disorder
- Physical Disability
If the client has answered this assessment before, the new assessment will populate with those answers and you can update them as needed.
IMPORTANT: If you answer NO to Disabling Condition and later learn the client is disabled, you will need to edit the enrollment and change the answer on the entry universal data assessment BEFORE you can identify a chronic barrier on this assessment.
If Disabling Condition is answered YES, then you must identity at least one barrier as present and chronic. While you are allowed to record some non-chronic barriers, you can only record a chronic barrier if Disabling Condition is answered YES.