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 February 14, 2017 event in Washington, DC. The Compendium is a web-based tool that pools disability statistics published by various federal agencies together in one place.
“The findings contained in the 2016 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. “This year we’ve built on the Compendium with an online supplement, which allows users to gain access to even more disability data.”
Key findings from the 2016 Annual Disability Statistics Compendium include:
- The American Community Survey (ACS) estimates the overall rate of people with disabilities in the US population in 2015 was 12.6%.
- In 2015, of the US population with disabilities, over half (51.1%) were people in the working-ages of 18-64, while 41.2% were 65 and older. Disability in children and youth accounted for only 7.2% (ages 5-17) and 0.4% (under 5 years old).
- In 2015, 34.9% of people with disabilities in the US ages 18-64 living in the community were employed compared to 76.0% for people without disabilities - a gap of 41.1 percentage points.
- According to 2015 data, the median earnings of US civilians with disabilities ages 16 and over was $21,572, about two-thirds of the median earnings of people without disabilities ($31,874).
- More than one in five (21.2%) US civilians with disabilities of working-age in 2015 were living in poverty. For US civilians of working-age without disabilities, the national poverty rate was 13.8%. In 2015, states show an increasing poverty percentage gap between those with and without disabilities at all age groups except for people ages 65 and over.
- In 2015, the US obesity rate for people with disabilities was 39.9%. For people without disabilities, the obesity rate was 25.4%. 2015 showed the first year-to-year drop in obesity gap since 2009 between the percentages of obesity for people with and without disabilities.
This year, the StatsRRTC also released the 2016 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. To download the slides and all of the other publications, visit www.disabilitycompendium.org.
This project is funded by a grant from the the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Community Living, NIDILRR – Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers (RRTCs) Program under grant number 90RT5022-02-00, from 2013 - 2018.. Key partners include Mathematica, Kessler Foundation, Public Health Institute, , American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), and the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation (CSAVR).
The Institute on Disability (IOD) at the University of New Hampshire was established in 1987 to provide a university-based focus for the improvement of knowledge, policies, and practices related to the lives of persons with disabilities and their families. Its mission is to promote full access, equal opportunities, and participation for all persons by strengthening communities and advancing policy and systems change, promising practices, education, and research.
