Utilization and Analysis of Census 2000 Data to Inform
Disability Advocacy and Employment Policy

Funded by the
National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research

Principal Investigator
Andrew J. Houtenville
Cornell University
Program on Employment and Disability
Project Summary

Disability prevalence and employment statistics are used in many ways; for example, to justify the level and composition of funding, direct the efficient allocation of scarce resources, plan for future need, identify groups at risk of disability, and identify barriers to employment and social integration. The Census2000 long form is designed to yield such statistics. This project disseminates and analyzes Census2000 information to inform advocacy and employment policy. We are currently in Year One of this project.

In the summer and fall of 2002, the Census Bureau released Census2000 statistics on the prevalence of disability and the employment of people with disabilities in the United States, each state (including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico), cities, counties, and smaller areas. We are using these national, state, city and county level statistics to generate a user-friendly report and a web site to help advocacy groups, One-Stops, state agencies and other groups to understand the composition and employment status of the population with disabilities in their area. A web site (www.disabilitystatistics.org) will allow users to choose the location and subject matter in the form of a question. The web site then generates an answer, which incorporates the requested statistic and support material such as definitions and a suggested citation. We will also provide an on-line tutorial on how to utilize the Census Bureau’s fact finder web site.

The Census Bureau is not planning to fully utilize all of the information collected in the Census2000 long form. For example, Census Bureau will not utilize information on public/private employment, occupation, industry, earnings, sources of income, transportation, marital status, living arrangements, citizenship, veteran status, and proxy response. In addition, many of the statistics disseminated by the Census Bureau will use an aggregated definition of disability; the six definitions of disability will not be used. As part of the Year One dissemination efforts, we will provide a copy of the Census2000 long form to our constituents and then solicit feedback and requests for additional statistics. In 2002, the Census Bureau will release Public Use Microdata Sample files. These files contain the actual long form raw data. In Year Two we will use these files to generate and disseminated the statistics requested by our constituents. Our web site, www.disabilitystatistics.org, will be used to convey materials.

In Year Three, we will use the Census2000 Microdata files to analyze the “disablement process” and barriers to the employment of people with disabilities. We will simultaneously model disability and employment status as functions of impairment, personal and household characteristics, as well as, the local environment. Measures of the local physical, political, social and economic environments will be obtained from the City/County Data Book and other sources. This empirical model will advance the economics literature, which has ignored the roles that the environment and society play in the conversion of impairments into disabilities; i.e., the “disablement process.”

Understanding the factors that contribute to the “disablement process” and employment is crucial to understanding the current and future demands upon the disability-related infrastructure and government programs aimed at the prevention and remediation of disabilities. It is also crucial to the promotion of the economic well-being, civil rights, and health of people with disabilities (e.g., vocational rehabilitation services, independent living, Social Security Disability Insurance, Supplemental Security Income, Medicare, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Workers’ Compensation, and the Americans with Disabilities Act). Our analysis of the Census2000 long form data will further our constituents’ understanding of their populations with disabilities and the continuing barriers to the employment of people with disabilities.

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