Disability Statistics Criticized
January 9, 2004

WashingtonPost.com

A lack of good government data on Americans with disabilities has deprived local officials, schools and businesses of funding they need to provide adequate transportation, job training and other services, a federal advisory panel said.

The National Council on Disability called for drastic changes in the way the Census Bureau collects such information, contending that only incremental improvements have been made over the past three decades.

Accurate numbers are important because census data are used to distribute billions in federal money to the states, the council said in a report to be released today.

The information also is used to help with civil rights enforcement and to forecast the number of people eligible for Social Security disability benefits.

Census Bureau officials said yesterday that they had not seen the report and declined to comment.

The 2000 census "demographic profile" found 30.5 million people age 21 to 64 had a disability, or nearly 20 percent of that age range. About 5.2 million people ages 5 to 20 had a disability, or about 8 percent of that group.

But the advisory panel criticized the profile data for not collecting numbers on children younger than 6 with disabilities, though a separate survey the year before found that nearly 650,000 young children had a disability.

Among other criticisms, the report faulted the bureau for arriving at different disability rates in the population in two separate surveys both collected in 2000.

State and local governments can also use the census statistics to divide funds among hospitals, schools, outreach centers and other service providers.

The council is an independent federal agency made up of 15 members who are appointed by the president and must be confirmed by the Senate.

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