Watertown Commission on Disability

Disability happens and here are the numbers . . .

Data from the 2005 US Census is now available on the U.S. Census Bureau’s website.

a sampling:

• Nearly 15% of the population 5 years and over (i.e., 40 million people) have one or more disabilities.
• For the population 16-64 years, 12% of that population (i.e., nearly 23 million people) have one or more disabilities. Of all people 16-64 years, nearly 3% have a sensory disability, more than 7% have a physical disability, and 4.5% have a mental disability. [Note: people can have more than one type of disability and show up in two categories.]
• For the population 65 years and over, 40.5% of that population (i.e., more than 14 million people) have one or more disabilities. Of all people over 65 years, 16% have a sensory disability, 31% have physical disability and 11.5% have a mental disability.