Herkimer County and Older Populations with Disabilities

The Census Bureau has released a report entitled Older Americans With A Disability: 2008-2012  which breaks out a variety of disabilities present among our older population members. Data for this report came from the 2012 ACS 5-year estimates. The 5-year estimates are ideal for conducting meaningful and statistically reliable analyses of special population groups, such as the older population with a disability, not only for the entire nation, but also for states and counties. The report examines the demo-graphic and socioeconomic characteristics, as well as the geographic distribution of the older population with a disability, with a focus on those in poverty or living alone.

One of the first things to recognize is what the ACS uses as a definition of "disabled". Below is a piece from their report laying out the six basic categories of disabilities that they measure.

Based on those definitions here is a map of the percent of those age 65 or older that are disabled for every county in the US. Click to enlarge the map.

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The following data provides insight into the age and type of disabilities for Herkimer County residents as well as the prevalence of multiple disabilities.

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A Quick Regional Look at Disabilities

One of the more difficult pieces of data to get access to over the years has been data on disabilities. To begin with, disability information is typically self-reported, as opposed to agency or service identified. Second, there just hasn't been a good source for this information down to the local level - until recently with the advent of the American Communities Survey.

Below are three graphs. The first is a simply pie chart showing how around one out of every eight citizens (13%)  regionally claim to have a disability.

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Next, the bar chart below shows the number of disabilities claimed within six classifications. Some of the almost 32,000 people regionally that indicated that they have a disability may, in fact, have claimed several different disabilities, so the total number of disabilities shown below is naturally higher than the total number of people claiming to be disabled.

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And the last bar chart is similar to the one above, but in  his case it focuses on the elderly, those age 65 or older. I offer it as an example of how the data might be looked at further. Hopefully such a look will come with input from those that find the data particularly useful!

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Friday is the Americans With Disabilities Act Twenty-Third Anniversary

On July 26th we will be celebrating the 23rd anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act which guarantees equal opportunity for people with disabilities in public accommodations, commercial facilities, employment, transportation, state and local government services and telecommunications. The Census Bureau estimates that there were 56.7 million people with a disability living in the United States in 2010. They represented 19 percent of the civilian noninstitutionalized population. Disabilities include, for instance, having difficulty seeing, hearing, having speech understood, walking, bathing, dressing, eating, preparing meals, going outside the home, or doing housework, having Alzheimer’s, dementia, autism, cerebral palsy, or dyslexia, and being frequently depressed or anxious.

Previously I have posted data about our region disabled population but that was based on Census 2000 data. Since the 2000 Census, the Census Bureau revamped it's survey questions on disabilities and as a result newer data is not really all that available yet. there is some data, which appears below from the 2011 three Year Estimates of the American Communities Survey (ACS), but it does contain empty cells (denoted by "X-es"). Still, it is better probably then relying on 13 year old data if you're looking for something newer!

With that in mind, here is the most up-to-date data on our region disabled population from the Census Bureau.

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Regional Disability Data and Maps

The Census Bureau collects data on disability primarily through the American Community Survey (ACS) and the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). The definitions of disability are not always alike so caution should be taken when making comparisons across these two very different surveys. Generally, the SIPP estimates of disability prevalence are broader and encompass a greater number of activities on which disability status is assessed. The ACS has a more narrow definition but is capable of producing estimates for states, counties, and metropolitan areas. Because the ACS has replaced the decennial long-form as the source for small area statistics, there is no disability data in the 2010 Census. New municipal level disability data will not be available for  at least a year as the definitions and question structure has changed. This requires a longer sampling period and hence, we are still stuck with our Census 2000 data as our "most recent."

Attached below are data for every municipality in each county, as well as maps at the block group level depicting the percent of people with self reported disabilities from the Census 2000.

Click to Enlarge Herkimer County Data

Click to Enlarge Oneida County Data

Click to Enlarge Herkimer County Disabilities Map

Click to Enlarge Oneida County Disabilities Map