>Census 2000 estimates the number of people with disabilities over
>age 5 at 49.7 million (right in line with Marta's number). This is
>19.3% of that population. West Virginia is the state with the
>highest rate. (I have a spreadsheet with all the states, MSA's, and
>congressional districts in the US and its commonwealths for anyone
>who would like it. I also made tables and density maps for all
>cities and towns in Massachusetts.)
>
>These number's represent any affirmative answer to any of six
>disability questions on the Census long form
><http://www.census.gov/dmd/www/pdf/d-61b.pdf> (page 5). The six
>questions are about sensory limitations, physical limitations,
>cognitive difficulties, daily living difficulties, going out
>difficulties, and work difficulties. The questions are thought to
>undercount psychological/mental health difficulties as a disability.
>
>These questions are answered by individuals under their own
>perceptions of their own situation. This is a very "social" view of
>disability. Two people with the exact same physical, cognitive, and
>behavioral situation could answer these questions differently.
>Public and private programs for people with disabilities have rigid
>and often lengthy evaluations in order to define people as disabled.
>They are designed to be exclusionary to keep costs low and to serve
>people with more "severe" conditions.
>
>I would not get into the obvious representation fallacy (who do you
>"see" and who don't you "see"?) of your casual observation but not
>all disabilities are visible.
>
>Peace,
>
>Jim
>At 01:49 PM 7/25/02 -0400, you wrote:
>
>>On Thu, 25 Jul 2002, Marta Russell wrote:
>>
>>> There are 52 million disabled persons in this nation alone.
>>
>>Really? One in every 5 1/2 people is disabled? How come the visible
>>fraction looks so much smaller at first sight?
>>
>>Michael
>>
>
>
>"The game is not what things 'look like'."
> - Robert Motherwell
-- Marta Russell Los Angeles, CA http://www.disweb.org