More Than 50 Million of Us Now, says Census Bureau
About 18 percent of Americans in 2002 said they had a disability, and 12 percent had a severe disability, according to a report released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. Among people with disabilities, more than half of those 21 to 64 years old had a job, more than 4-in-10 of those ages 15 to 64 used a computer at home and a quarter of those age 25 to 64 had a college degree. . .The report defines a person as having a disability if they have difficulty performing a specific activity such as seeing, hearing, bathing or doing light housework, or had a specified condition, such as Alzheimer's disease or autism. People are considered to have a severe disability if they are completely unable to perform one or more of these tasks or activities, need personal assistance or have one of the severe conditions described in the report.
This from a report out today from the Census Bureau: More Than 50 Million..." (U.S. Newswire) It's full of interesting info. Check it out!
From what I gather from other articles on the report, the people surveyed did not self-identify as having a disability. The Census Bureau instead classified them after asking if they have difficulty with household tasks. Thus, a person who has trouble folding laundry or writing checks, for instance, is disabled and a person who can't do those tasks at all is severely disabled, by the Census Bureau standards. Seems like they are following the Supreme Court on that, though a bit more liberally.
Posted by: Laura | May 12, 2006 02:02 PM