2012 U.S. Census: More severely disabled in U.S. | July 2012

{photo: Members of ADAPT, a disability rights group, block off 15th street near the White House as they protest for President Obama to expand and support community based long-term care services for people with disabilities, in Washington on September 20, 2010. UPI/Kevin Dietsch}


United Press International (UPI)
Published: July 25, 2012

WASHINGTON, July 25 (UPI) -- The number of severely disabled people in the United States appears to be increasing, the Census Bureau said in a report released Wednesday.

In 2010, 56.7 million people, 19 percent of the total population, had a disability, demographers said. That was 2.2 million more than in 2005, with the percentage of the population considered disabled statistically the same.

But the number and percentage of people with severe disabilities and of those requiring assistance for ordinary tasks was up, possibly because of the increase in the number of elderly residents in the United States, the report said. About 15 million people have difficulty with at least one activity of daily living like eating, preparing food or answering the telephone, and 12 million need assistance to get through the day.

"Americans with Disabilities: 2010" was the first report on the subject the Census Bureau has done since 2005.

The report's release was timed to mark the 22nd anniversary of the signing of the Americans With Disabilities Act. The data came from the Survey of Income and Program Participation.

The bureau said that only 41 percent of those aged 21 to 64 with a disability were employed, compared to 79 percent with no disability. The disabled were also more likely to be poor, with 10.8 percent of those 15 to 64 with severe disability reporting persistent poverty compared to 4.9 percent with lesser disabilities and 3.8 percent with no disability.

The average monthly income of those 21 to 64 with a disability was $1,961, while it was $2,724 for those in the same group with no disability.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/07/25/Census-More-severely-disabled-in-US/UPI-60191343246037/#ixzz21qPeuKNo

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For U.S. Census Bureau, Disability Main overview click headline or:
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/disability/disability.html