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The Equality Act 2010 further enshrines the duties on organisations set out in the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 to safeguard the rights of vulnerable children. However, disability is a complex phenomenon, which makes the collection of data, and the subsequent identification of children who might be classed as disabled, problematic. This article, written by Dr Jill Porter, Director of Studies for research students at the Department of Education, University of Bath, Professor Harry Daniels, Director of The Centre for Socio-cultural and Activity Theory Research, University of Bath, Dr Anthony Feiler, Reader in Education at the University of Bristol, and Dr Jan Georgeson, Research Fellow at the University of Plymouth, explores the findings of a nationwide survey with questions about multiple indicators of disability. The authors argue that methods for collecting disability data need to reflect the uncertainties surrounding the relationship between neurological conditions, their expression and the socially mediated nature of the impact of disability. In exploring the data the authors note that families have different expectations of their children and of family life and, as a result, the presence of an impairment has a differential impact; this argues, the authors suggest, for the need for parents' views to be privileged in the collection of disability data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]