Other Free Encyclopedias :: Social Issues Reference :: Social Trends in America - Vol 3 :: Disability - The Number Of Us With Disabilities, Aging And Disability, What Disables Us?, What Disables Our Children?

Disability - Aging And Disability

As we age our chances of being disabled increase. For those under 15 years of age in 1997, 7.8% were disabled while more than half (54.4%) of those 65 or older were disabled. The severity of the disability also rises with age. Of the youngest group charted, 0.5% has a severe disability, a quarter of all disabled children under 3 years of age. For the 65 and over crowd, more than half of those with some kind of disability had a severe kind of limitation.

What are the leading causes of disability among adults? We look at that subject next. Children's disabilities will have their own distinct panel.

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Americans with Disabilities, 1997, Table 1, "Prevalence of Disability by Age, Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin: 1997," February 2001, p. 10.


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