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| English: Seal of the United States Census Bureau. The blazon is defined here as: On a shield an open book beneath which is a lamp of knowledge emitting rays above in base two crossed quills. Around the whole a wreath of single leaves, surrounded by an outer band bearing between two stars the words "U.S. Department of Commerce" in the upper portion and "Bureau of the Census" in the lower portion, the lettering concentric with an inner beaded rim and an outer dentilated rim. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The United States Census Bureau has issued its 2010 report on Americans with Disabilities. You can read the entire report here.You can review a summary here.
The report is full of useful information. For example, 56.7 million people, or about 18.7% of the American population, has a disability. For those under 15 years of age, 8.4% (about 5.2 million) had a disability, of which about half were classified as having a severe disability (4.2% of the total or about 2.6 million kids).
Of all Americans, about 8.1 million people have difficulty seeing and about 30.6 million people have disabilities that impair their mobility.
There is a wealth of other helpful information in the report. You should see if you can locate any other useful numbers.
One of the interesting, but frightening statistics I pulled out of that was that the severity of one’s disability directly correlates with poverty level. So, one must assume that children facing such a disability aren’t necessarily getting the continued help they need into adulthood. Such individuals can’t really be left to rot, as they seem to be. At the very least, we could be doing more to help those with disabilities get a little independence back, perhaps providing more financial aid, or working to make more careers more accessible.
ReplyDeleteSarah,
ReplyDeletePoverty is still a big problem in this country.
JG
@JG,
ReplyDeleteYes, poverty is still a big problem in this country. But imagine how much worse they are doing in third world countries where the citizens taxes can barely suffice for people with disability, among other things.
Dianne,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment,
JG