Disabilities

  • There are over 50 million people with disabilities– about 20 percent of the population– living in America. They are roughly twice as likely as the general population to live below the poverty line. In October 2010, 21.4 percent of people with disabilities were in the labor force, but a much larger percentage of people without disabilities are in the labor force.  Across the board, people with disabilities continue to face substandard experiences and outcomes in employment, education, housing, transportation, and health care because of inaccessible and inadequately-funded state and federal programs, outdated public policies, as well as persistent fears, myths, and stereotypes surrounding disability.

    Access to good jobs, health care, education, training and social services are critical for people with disabilities to succeed. Advocates for people with disabilities work to ensure that the entire scope of federal services and programs – including Medicaid, the Workforce Investment Act, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, elementary and secondary public education, and other programs and social services are accessible and appropriate to people with disabilities.

    For more information on this issue, visit CHN’s Public Policy Priorities, 2013-2014.

    Advocacy Organizations

    The Arc UCP Public Policy Collaboration
    Bazelon Center
    Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities
    Families USA
    The National Council on Independent Living
    Parents’ Action for Children
    World Institute on Disability
    United Cerebral Palsy