DURHAM, N.H. - The Institute on Disability (IOD) at the University of New Hampshire’s Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Statistics and Demographics (StatsRRTC) released its Annual Disability Statistics Compendium at a December 3, 2014 event in Washington, DC.
The Annual Disability Statistics Compendium is a web-based tool that pools disability statistics published by various federal agencies together in one place.
“The findings contained in 2014 Annual Disability Statistics Compendium highlight the work that still needs to be done to improve the lives of Americans with disabilities,” said Andrew Houtenville, research director at the Institute on Disability and principal investigator for the StatsRRTC grant. “Persons with disabilities have lower rates of employment and higher rates of poverty than persons without disabilities. Business, government, and community organizations must work together to build outcome oriented solutions at the local, state, and national level.”
Key findings from the 2014 Compendium include:
- According to the American Community Survey (ACS), the overall rate of disability in the US population in 2013 was 12.7%. Rates of disability increase with age. In 2013, in the population under 5 years old, less than 1.0% of the population had a disability. For the population ages 5-17, the rate was 5.4%. For ages 18- 64, the rate was 10.5%. For people age 65 and older, 36.6% had a disability.
- In 2013, 33.9% of US civilians with disabilities ages 18-64 living in the community were employed, compared to 74.2% for people without disabilities. There is state variation in the rates of employment for persons with disabilities, from a high of 52.8% to a low of 25.3%. The overall employment rate was much higher for people without disabilities at 74.2%. The employment rates ranged from 83.0% to 69.4%.
- According to 2013 data, the median earnings of US civilians with disabilities ages 16 and over was $20,785, about two-thirds of the median earnings of people without disabilities ($30,728).
- Almost thirty percent (28.7%) of US civilians with disabilities of working-age in 2013 were living in poverty. For US civilians of working-age without disabilities, the national poverty rate was 13.6%.
This year, the StatsRRTC also released the 2014 Disability Statistics Annual Report, a companion volume of maps and charts that highlights trend data and variations across states. A PowerPoint slide deck is available for use by the public and is available online.
This project is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). Key partners include Mathematica, the Kessler Foundation, the Public Health Institute, InfoUse, the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), Center for Essential Management Services (CEMS), and the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation (CSAVR).
For more information, visit www.disabilitycompendium.org.
