Cornell Universit

MAY 2009

JANUARY 2006

y

ILR School

Employment and Disability Institute

Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Demographics and Statistics

ABSTRACT

Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Including Group Quarters Residents with Household Residents Can Change What We Know About Working-Age People with Disabilities

Authors:

David Stapleton

Todd Honeycutt

Bruce Schechter

Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

May 2009

For additional information about this report contact:

Susanne M. Bruyère

Employment and Disability Institute

201K Dolgen Hall

Cornell University

Ithaca, NY 14853

Ph: (607) 255-9536

Fax: (607) 255-2763

smb23@cornell.edu

This paper is being distributed by the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Demographics and Statistics at Cornell University.

This center is funded to Cornell University by the U.S. Department of Education, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (No. H133B031111). The contents of this paper do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government (Edgar, 75.620 (b)).

The Project Director is:

Harry C. Katz – The Kenneth F. Kahn Dean and Jack Sheinkman Professor, ILR School, Extension Division, Cornell University

The Co-Principal Investigators are:

Susanne M. Bruyere -- Director, Employment and Disability Institute, ILR School, Extension Division, Cornell University

Richard V. Burkhauser -- Sarah Gibson Blanding Professor, Department of Policy Analysis and Management, College of Human Ecology, Cornell University

David C. Stapleton -- Director, Cornell University Institute for Policy Research, Washington DC.

Abstract

Information about residents of institutional and noninstitutional group quarters (GQ), particularly those with disabilities, has been limited by gaps in survey data, and statistics based on data that exclude some or all GQ residents are biased as estimates of total population statistics. We used the 2006 and 2007 American Community Survey (ACS) to identify the distribution of working-age populations with and without disabilities by major residence type, and to assess the sensitivity of disability statistics to GQ residence. Our findings showed that (1) of those with disabilities, about one in 13 males and one in 33 females live in GQ; (2) younger males with disabilities are more likely to reside there, particularly at institutional GQ; (3) individuals with and without disabilities who are black, American Indian, never married, or have less than a high school education had higher GQ residence rates; (4) 40% of male and 62% of female GQ residents have a disability; (5) adding GQ residents to household residents increases estimated disability prevalence for males by 6% and the estimated difference between disability prevalence rates by gender nearly disappears; and (6) inclusion of the GQ population substantively lowers employment rate estimates for males with disabilities—especially young blacks and American Indians.

	JANUARY 2006
DECEMBER 2008

Cornell University

ILR

Employment and Disability Institute

For More Information about the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Demographics and Statistics contact:

Susanne M. Bruyère

Employment and Disability Institute

201K Dolgen Hall

Cornell University

Ithaca, NY 14853

Tel 607.255.9536

Fax 607.255.2763

TTY 607.255.2891

Email smb23@cornell.edu

Web www.edi.cornell.edu