Introduction
The one-fifth of the American population that has a disability continues to be at a critical disadvantage in work, finances, education, and other aspects of life. Surveys show modest improvements in various indicators since the mid-1980s, but progress has been slow.
Statistics on Quality of Life for People with Disabilities
- Only 35 percent of people with disabilities reported being employed full or part time in 2004, compared to 78 percent of those who do not have a disability.
- More than 25 percent live in poverty, compared with 9 percent of people who are not disabled.
- People with disabilities are twice as likely to drop out of high school and lack health insurance. They are less likely to socialize, eat out, or attend religious services than their non-disabled counterparts.
- Only 34 percent of people with disabilities say they are very satisfied with life, compared with 61 percent of those without disabilities.
- People with disabilities are much more worried about their future health and well-being.
- On the upside, the number of people with disabilities who were completely unable or were somewhat limited in their ability to work, go to school, or take care of their home decreased from 93 percent in 1998 to 73 percent in 2000. This improvement is attributed to more companies providing greater access to facilities and technological advances, particularly the Internet.
Statistics on Disabilities in America
- One in every 10 Americans (28 million) has some level of hearing loss.
- There are 15 million people in the United States who are blind or visually impaired.
- Three out of 100 Americans have mental retardation. More than 600,000 children ages 12 to 21 have some level of mental retardation and need special education in school.
- Three million people stutter. Stuttering affects all ages but occurs most frequently in children ages 2 to 6.
- By 5th grade, 5 percent of children have speech disorders.
Technological Advances for People with Disabilities
Deaf or Hard of Hearing
- Cochlear implants
- Assisted listening devices and systems
- Alerting devices
- Amplified telephones
- Teletypewriters
- Voice carry-over phones
- Video phones
- Speech-to-text services and technology
- Closed caption decoders
Blind or Visually Impaired
- Independent living products including large print clocks and books on tape
- Electronic magnification devices
- Closed captioning television
- Text telephones
- Computerized speech recognition devices
- Talking Internet browsers
Sources:
- Braille Institute
- National Center for Hearing Assistive Technology
- National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities
- National Organization on Disability
Related Articles:
- About Disabilities
- Diabilities – Current Trends
- Disabilities: Your Options
- Disabilities: How Social Workers Help
- Disabilities Tip Sheets
- Resources on Disabilities
- Disabilities Real Life Stories
