Skip Navigation

Office on Disability

What is Disability and Who is Affected by Disability?

Disabilities have been defined in many ways. In general, disabilities are characteristics of the body, mind, or senses that, to a greater or lesser extent, affect a person’s ability to engage independently in some or all aspects of day-to-day life. 

  • Different kinds of disabilities affect people in different ways.  The same kind of disability can affect each person differently.
  • Many Americans will experience disability first hand.
  • While all disabilities are as different as the individuals who experience them, the challenges and opportunities for persons with disabilities often are similar.


Disability is neither inability nor sickness

  • Most persons with disabilities are as healthy as people who don’t have disabilities; however, persons with disabilities are, however, at greater risk for illness
  • Most people with disabilities can and do work, play, learn and enjoy full healthy lives in their communities.
  • One of the key challenges for a person with a disability is to be seen by the public, to be portrayed in the media, treated by health care professionals, as an individual with abilities, and not just seen as a disability.


Disability can become a fact of life for anyone at any time.   

  • Today, 54 million people in the United States are living in the community with a disability.  That’s one in every five people. According to the most recent census data, around 52 million of them reside in the community (US Census Bureau 2002). Additionally, about 2 million people live in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.
  • Some people are born with a disability; some people get sick or have an accident that results in a disability; and some people develop a disability as they age. 
  • The reality is that just about everyone – women, men and children of all ages, races and ethnicities – will experience a disability some time during his or her lifetime.
  • As we age, the likelihood of having a disability of some kind increases. The likelihood of having a disability increased with age. For those 45 to 54 years old, 22.6 percent have some form of disability; for those 65 to 69 years old, the comparable estimate is 44.9 percent; and for the oldest age group, 80 years old and over, the prevalence of disability is estimated to be 73.6 percent.

 

Figure 2: Prevalence of Disability by Age Group, 1997 - bar graph

 

  

TABLE 3:  Population by Age and Disability

Characteristic

             Total

                  Total %

Population, Age 5 and over257,167,527100.0

With any disability

  49,746,248

  19.3

Population, Ages 5-1545,133,687100.0

With any disability

2,614,919

   5.8

Sensory

   442,894

   1.0

Physical

455,461

  1.0

Mental

2,078,502

4.6

Self-care

419,018

0.9

Population, Ages 16-64178,687,234100.0

With any disability

33,153,211

18.6

Sensory

4,123,902

2.3

Physical

11,140,365

6.2

Mental

6,764,439

3.8

Self-care

3,149,875

1.8

Difficulty going out

11,414,508

6.4

Employment disability

21,287,570

11.9

Population, Age 65 and Over33,346,626100.0

With any disability

13,978,118

41.9

Sensory

4,738,479

14.2

Physical

9,545,680

28.6

Mental

3,592,912

10.8

Self-care

3,183,840

9.5

Difficulty going out

8,795,517

20.4

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary File 3 (adapted from Panko Reis et al 2004)