More disabled young people than ever before

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Seven years ago  1.1 percent of those between 18 and 29 years of age were disabled. Today the proportion is at 1.6 percent. This means that, as of now, 13,657 people in that age group are disabled.
The latter figure is from June this year and was 6,000 higher than in the same month, seven years ago,   newspaper Stavanger Aftenblad writes.
– This issue has been investigated in depth  before and some interesting findings were made. Between 60 and 70 percent of the young disabled should get disability benefits. Between 30 to 40 per cent would not have become disabled if   action had been taken earlier,  Truls Nordahl, who is director of Nav Rogaland, says.
– The typical story has to do with mental illness. Issues and problems that have present in their lives  since childhood or middle school and which only have grown. It’s too late when they come to us,  Nordahl says. He describes this as  a social problem and wants more resources for preventive measures.
Nordahl believes   a concerted effort  – where both Nav, municipalities and counties are participating – is  needed to bring about a better follow-up of those who develop problems early.
– At the present time my concern is that we use a lot of resources in trying to repair problems. The current number of disabled young people and the percentage increase is an indicator that what we do today is not good enough,  Nordahl says.
Source: NTB scanpix  / Norway Today