If you consider yourself someone who supports disabled people, read this. [View all]

[WhiskeyGrinder]

Last edited Sun Dec 17, 2023, 07:10 PM - Edit history (1)

Newly Proposed Census Revisions Could Undercount Millions Of Disabled Americans

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/census-bureau-disability-revisions_n_657b9a8de4b036ecab445bd6

The Census Bureau has proposed revisions to the way it collects data on disability in its American Community Survey (ACS), raising alarm among disability experts who say the changes could drastically undercount the disabled population in the U.S.

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The Census tested the newly proposed survey questions last year after it recommended switching to the new questions and also changing the disability definition for the survey. Under the newly proposed definition, only those who respond to the function questions with having “a lot of difficulty” or “cannot do at all” will be considered disabled.

Disability advocates, researchers and community members found out about the changes through a notice on the Federal Register in October, and were immediately concerned about how these changes would undercount their population.

The results of the 2022 test showed that respondents who were defined as having a disability decreased from 14% to 8%, indicating as many as 20 million disabled people could not be counted in the survey.

There are two days left to submit a comment about this proposed change. You can submit a comment here: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/10/20/2023-23249/agency-information-collection-activities-submission-to-the-office-of-management-and-budget-omb-for