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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.)<br><br>
These number's represent any affirmative answer to any of six disability
questions on the Census long form
<<a href="http://www.census.gov/dmd/www/pdf/d-61b.pdf" eudora="autourl">http://www.census.gov/dmd/www/pdf/d-61b.pdf</a>>
(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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
Peace,<br><br>
Jim<br>
At 01:49 PM 7/25/02 -0400, you wrote:<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>On Thu, 25 Jul 2002, Marta Russell
wrote:<br><br>
> There are 52 million disabled persons in this nation
alone.<br><br>
Really? One in every 5 1/2 people is disabled? How come the
visible<br>
fraction looks so much smaller at first sight?<br><br>
Michael</blockquote><br><br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
"The game is not what things 'look like'."<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>- Robert
Motherwell </html>