Disability

The U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey classifies individuals as having a disability if they reported difficulty with specific functional activities. The ACS considers someone to have a disability if the individual self-reports having a vision, hearing, cognitive, ambulatory, self-care, or independent living difficulty. The ACS attempts to measure six aspects of disability, which can be used together to create an overall disability measure, or independently to examine populations with specific disability types.

• Hearing difficulty deaf or having serious difficulty hearing.
• Vision difficulty blind or having serious difficulty seeing, even when wearing glasses.
• Cognitive difficulty Because of a physical, mental, or emotional problem, having difficulty remembering, concentrating, or making decisions.
• Ambulatory difficulty Having serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs.
• Self-care difficulty Having difficulty bathing or dressing.
• Independent living difficulty Because of a physical, mental, or emotional problem, having difficulty doing errands alone such as visiting a doctor’s office or shopping.