July 26 is the 21st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. It guarantees equal opportunity for those with disabilities in employment, public accommodations, transportation, commercial facilities, and telecommunications, including state and local government services.
There are 36 million people in the United States with disabilities; they represent 12 percent of the civilian non-institutionalized population. Listed below are some facts about Americans with disabilities in the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Americans with Disabilities consist of the following groups:
* 5 percent of children 5 to 17 years old
* 10 percent of adults 18 to 64 years old
* 37 percent of seniors 65 and up
Females have a higher percentage of disabilities at 12.3 percent, compared to men with 11.6 percent. West Virginia is the state with the highest percent of people with disabilities at 18.8 percent, while Utah has the lowest at 8.9 percent.Specific Disabilities
* 10.2 million people have hearing difficulties, 5.8 million of whom are age 65 and up.
* 6.5 million are visually impaired.
* 13.5 million, at the age of 5 and older, have difficulty making decisions, remembering and/or concentrating. 2.1 million of these individuals are ages 5 to 17.
* 19.4 million, age 5 and up, have difficulty with walking and climbing stairs.
The Americans with Disabilities Act has provided some disabled people with an opportunity to work.
Employment
22 percent of disabled workers are employed in health care, educational services and social assistance fields. These three fields are the largest of all the industries to employ the disabled.
Transportation to work
* 6 percent, age 16 years and older, commute to work using public transportation
* 70 percent drive alone
* 13 percent are in a carpool
* 4 percent walk
* 3 percent bicycle, drive a motorcycle, use a taxicab or use other methods.
Unemployed
* 72 percent disabled, 16 years old and up, are not working.
* 27 percent of people without disabilities are not working as of 2009. As of June 2011, the unemployment rate is 9.2 percent.
Poverty
* 21 percent of the disabled population 16 years old and up live below the poverty level.
* 11 percent of the general population age 16 years old and up with no disabilities are below the poverty level.
Earnings
The median salary for the disabled, 16 years and older, is $18,865. The median salary for non-disabled is $28,983.
Education
* 28 percent of the disabled, 25 years old and up, did not graduate high school, in comparison to 12 percent for the non-disabled.
* 13 percent of the disabled, age 25 and up, hold a bachelor's degree or higher versus 31 percent for the non-disabled population. The source of these statistics are from the 2009 American Community Survey this is the most current information on the disabled available to date.
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