OBJECTIVES: Disability is a term comparing actual ability to normal functioning. There are 13.9 million people with disability in the United Kingdom. A 10% rise in employment of disabled adults would contribute an extra £12 billion to the economy by 2030. It is believed that people with disability are discriminated against by the public. This study examined the perception of professionals about how people with disability are perceived in the society.

METHODS: A questionnaire administered at the 2018 conference of the International Society of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) Baltimore. Ethical approval for the study was obtained by the Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU). The questionnaire included questions with binary responses, scaled responses and free text in order to facilitate a mixed methods analysis using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis.

RESULTS: Two hundred and twenty one (221) responses were collected from; 66 (29.9%) were consultants, 61 (27.6%) in the pharmaceutical industry, 48 (21.7%) from academia, 11 (5%) healthcare professionals, 7 (3.2%) policy makers/payers/Health Technology Assessment (HTA) professionals and 28 (12.7%) other. One hundred and thirty three 133 (61%) stated that they felt that people with disability were discriminated against whilst 44 (20.2%) felt that they were not discriminated against and 41 (18.8%) people were unsure whether they were discriminated against or not.

CONCLUSIONS: Majority of the respondents felt that people with disability were discriminated against. This may impact on the quality of life and wellbeing of individuals with disability. Understanding the nature of discrimination faced by these people may help to put in place, and implement appropriate social strategies to improve the health outcomes of people with disability; and to facilitate their contribution to the economy. These strategies may include public awareness and education in relation to disability. Future research is needed to understand the nature of discrimination faced by people with disability.