Disability Reports
2024
September 2024
The President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities (PCPID) recently submitted their 2024 Report: “Advancing Independence and Community Integration for All: Supporting Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities Through High-Quality Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS).” The goal of the report is to ensure all individuals with I/DD have the supports they need to live independently and meaningfully engage within their communities. The report assesses the current challenges, promising practices, and policy reforms necessary to increase the availability of high-quality HCBS for individuals with I/DD. The 2024 PCPID report is structured across four key focus areas, including the Direct support professionals (DSP) labor shortage, Employment, Community living, and the impact of Federal social safety net programs. An accessible one-pager summary is available here.
September 2024
HHS delivered a progress report on federal implementation of the 2022 National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers to Congress. The strategy presents a vision, establishes goals, and provides recommendations for ensuring that family caregivers have the support and resources they need. The strategy also includes commitments from 15 federal agencies to nearly 350 actions to implement these recommendations. Now, nearly all these actions have been completed or are in progress, and federal agencies have committed to almost 40 new actions since the strategy’s release. The National Strategy was released in 2022 as a first step in a coordinated national effort to address family caregiving challenges. The strategy includes more than two dozen recommendations for legislative and policy changes and more than 150 recommendations for actions that can be implemented by community members.
August 2024
A new report from the U.S. Department of Education (ED) shows that 39 states and Washington, D.C. have a shortage of special education teachers. The only states that have not reported shortages in this specialty for the 2024-2025 school year are Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Utah, and Vermont. Demand for special education is on the rise, with ED data showing that a record number of students qualified for services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) during the 2022-2023 school year.
August 14, 2024
The National Council on Disability (NCD) recently released a report on exclusionary practices that prevent people with disabilities from participating in clinical trials. The Implicit and Explicit Exclusion of People with Disabilities in Clinical Trials discusses how healthcare practitioners’ internal biases and federal policies contribute to participation rates, and how the disparity affects people with disabilities and the efficacy of clinical trials. NCD’s recommendations include the idea that clinical trial study teams should incorporate explanations of the availability of reasonable accommodations in informed consent documents.
March 14, 2024
More than a dozen organizations worked alongside individuals with developmental disabilities to develop the new National Roadmap for Disability-Inclusive Healthcare, a set of goals and actions that various stakeholders should take to better prepare doctors, nurses, and dentists to treat those with disabilities. The plan outlines steps for educational associations, regulatory and accrediting bodies, and professional organizations. For example, the roadmap recommends that professional societies incentivize continuing clinical education focused on intellectual and developmental disabilities and it says that regulatory bodies should require learning about intellectual and developmental disabilities as part of licensing renewals and board certifications. Most doctors receive little if any training on developmental disabilities while in medical school and residency. As a result, research shows that just 41% of physicians feel prepared to offer people with disabilities a similar qualify of care to others.
March 7, 2024
The Administration for Community Living (ACL) has released the FY 2021-2022 Organization Highlights Report for the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR). Every two years, NIDILRR releases this report to provide stakeholders with detailed information on how NIDILRR funding is being used, how NIDILRR research is making a difference, what products are being produced by NIDILRR grants, highlights from former grantees, and how NIDILRR is collaborating across the federal government to achieve its mission. The report highlights key accomplishments from NIDILRR grantees across each of the NIDILRR funding mechanisms and outcome domain areas, illustrating how NIDILRR activities and achievements are improving the lives of people with disabilities.
February 2024
SSI beneficiaries receive too little each month to reasonably afford apartment rent in any housing market across the nation, a new report shows. Nationally, the average rent for a basic studio or one-bedroom apartment exceeds the average SSI payment of $983 per month. Even in the cheapest rental market in the country — Dallas County, Mo. — rent for a one-bedroom would require 64% of a person’s monthly SSI payment. The findings are outlined in a new report called Priced Out that’s regularly updated by the Technical Assistance Collaborative.
January 4, 2024
In September 2023, NIH designated people with disabilities as a population facing health disparities, ensuring better representation in research. A proposed Biden Administration rule would strengthen nondiscrimination protections and codify the Olmstead decision, requiring services in integrated settings. Both changes reflect increased awareness of disability-related challenges, worsened by the pandemic. An analysis by KFF found that over 11 percent of working-age adults report disabilities, with higher poverty rates and lower employment. Post-COVID policy changes, like reduced telehealth access and Medicaid eligibility, have been found to impact care. The purpose of this report is to highlight recent developments in the recognition and treatment of people with disabilities in the U.S.
2023
October 31, 2023
This report examines the implications of asset limits in government-sponsored social safety net programs on the economic self-sufficiency and financial independence of people with disabilities. It focuses on four critical areas of public policy: health care, cash benefits provided through Supplemental Security Income (SSI), employment, and asset building and wealth protection. The report offers findings and recommendations for the Administration, Congress, and states in the areas of health, employment, and asset building and wealth protection to bring about critical policy and systems change. Key findings include people with disabilities consistently have poorer outcomes for employment, earnings, savings, and overall net wealth; working-age adults with disabilities remain employed at less than half the rate of people without disabilities and are twice as likely to live in poverty; people with disabilities are often impacted by benefits cliffs; and access to Medicaid can be a valuable pathway to employment for people with disabilities.
July 2023
This survey report highlights the difficulties faced by the estimated 30 million Americans with disabilities who are eligible to vote and the subsequent negative impact on their civic engagement. The survey assesses the accessibility of elections by exploring points like voter turnout, difficulties faced while voting and treatment by election officials.
May 2023
In Fall 2022, the FTA convened the Coordinating Council on Access and Mobility (CCAM), a federal interagency council that coordinates funding and provides expertise on human services transportation for people with disabilities, older adults, and individuals of low income, and officially adopted the 2023-2026 CCAM Strategic Plan. The plan prioritizes expanding safe access to transit, providing affordable mobility options and sets a framework for collaboration among CCAM grantees at all levels and across jurisdictions. The plan was created through collective engagement among leadership, staff, and stakeholders from across the CCAM partner agencies during 10 federal working sessions and four listening sessions from February to June 2022.
May 18, 2023
In November 2022, ACL organized a national summit that included people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), representatives from federal agencies, advocacy groups, researchers, and health care providers. The group discussed progress on its 2030 roadmap for health data equity, remaining gaps, and priorities for the future. The summit focused on six areas: 1) Data needed by federal agencies, 2) Data needed by advocacy groups, 3) What federal agencies are doing to improve data, 4) What other organizations are doing to improve data, 5) How to share information from improved data, and 6) Tools and skills needed to use improved data. This report summarizes the key ideas from the summit and actions recommended by and for the I/DD Counts initiative.
May 4, 2023
Extreme weather events are increasing in frequency, severity, and cost. During an emergency or major disaster people with physical, sensory, mental, or cognitive disabilities are disproportionately impacted. Despite this, the needs of people with disabilities are being overlooked in disaster management policy and planning. In this report, NCD examines the extent of compliance with federal laws and examines applicable federal programs and policies and their implementation in health care, housing, education, and emergency management. The report offers findings and recommendations to bring about critical policy and systems change intended to advance national disability policy goals and reduce casualties.
April 5, 2023
Many people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) have difficulty accessing oral healthcare services. In this report, NCD explores three issues impacting access and use of dental care services by adults with I/DD: 1) Oral healthcare provider participation in Medicaid programs that cover dental services for adults with I/DD; 2) Return on investment (ROI) to states for sufficiently funding a comprehensive Medicaid dental benefit for adults with I/DD; and 3) Comparison of Medicaid managed care dental provider reimbursement rates to Medicaid fee-for-service dental provider reimbursement rates. The report also examines promising practices in the areas of policy advancement, dental provider training, and financing.
February 23, 2023
Employers that hold a special certificate from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) can pay people with disabilities wages below the federal minimum wage. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that about 120,000 workers were employed under these certificates, with half earning less than $3.50 an hour. The GAO found that DOL has no timeliness goals for processing applications and could do more to improve oversight.
2022
December 5, 2022
For disabled people in America, barriers to lifesaving safety net programs are too often a part of everyday life. Known as “administrative burdens,” these barriers are defined as any challenge that makes it difficult for someone to access or maintain assistance for which they otherwise qualify. They make it difficult to navigate a system that is supposed to help them cover basic necessities such as food, housing, and medical treatments. These burdens come in many forms, including lengthy and complicated paperwork, asset tests, inflexible in-person appointments, backlogs with long wait times, inaccessible and poorly designed websites, and complex or confusing application processes. They can affect anyone, but they tend to impact the most marginalized members of society most significantly, including those with worse medical conditions.
December 1, 2022
The Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD) Working Group on Diversity (WGD) provides recommendations on how the National Institutes of Health (NIH) can promote diversity within its workforce. The ad hoc Subgroup on Individuals with Disabilities provides recommendations on how these efforts can support and include individuals with disabilities.
December 2, 2022
The global launch of the WHO Global Report on Health Equity for Persons with Disabilities, which took place on December 2, 2022, aims to raise awareness on health equity for persons with disabilities and mobilize action across a range of stakeholders, including governments, civil society organizations, development agencies, and other health sector partners.
November 2022
The Administration for Community Living (ACL), organized a national summit that included people with I/DD, representatives from federal agencies, advocacy groups, researchers, and health care providers. The group discussed progress on its 2030 roadmap for health data equity, remaining gaps, and priorities for the future. This report summarizes the key ideas from the summit and actions recommended by and for the I/DD Counts initiative.
October 10, 2022
The Interagency Committee on Disability Research published a white paper in December 2022, The Impact of COVID-19 on Disability Research: A 2022 Update, that presents updated information on how the field of disability research has changed and adapted throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting important areas of new research and how the shift to virtual research methods has modified the research landscape.
July 26, 2022
This report describes insights gained from key informant interviews and an Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE)-hosted listening session on short-term opportunities for improving patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) data infrastructure that addresses the needs of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/DD).
July 2022
The Money Follows the Person (MFP) demonstration, established by Congress through Section 6071 of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, enables state Medicaid programs to help Medicaid beneficiaries who live in institutions transition into the community, and gives people with disabilities and older adults more choice in deciding where to live and to receive long-term services and supports (LTSS). This report shows that the MFP program has helped more than 107,000 people have transitioned to HCBS between 2008 and 2020.
April 2022
The Equitable Data Working Group was formed to study existing federal data collection policies, programs, and infrastructure to identify inadequacies and provide recommendations for advancing equitable data. Equitable data allows for rigorous assessment of the treatment of individuals within government policies and programs and illuminates opportunities for action.
March 9, 2022
This initial report is part of ongoing related research into how to incentivize oral health providers to participate in Medicaid. In its preliminary research into how to improve the oral health of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), NCD examined: 1) The relationship between states’ Medicaid dental benefits and the receipt of basic dental care among adults with I/DD; 2) The relationship between state waiver programs and receipt of dental care; 3) The estimated cost and potential savings of implementing basic dental Medicaid benefits in states that do not currently offer it; 4) The role of coordination between developmental disability (DD) agencies and Medicaid agencies for improving access to dental care; and 5) Promising Medicaid-funded state and private strategies for expanding dental care for adults with I/DD.
February 2022
People on the autism spectrum are individualized and may experience difficulties in social relationships, communication, and self-regulation to varying degrees. This creates a situation where transit personnel may not be able to easily recognize that a person has Autism or determine what types of assistance people with Autism may need. This brief will provide you the basic requirements for transit personnel assistance for people with disabilities, additional Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements that may affect the services provided to people with Autism, transportation challenges, tips, and promising practices for serving people with Autism, and additional resources.
February 14, 2022
The National Council on Disability (NCD) released a new framework for policymakers to address medical discrimination against people with disabilities and to achieve health equity. The Health Equity Framework rests on four core areas: designating people with disabilities as a Special Medically Underserved Population (SMUP), requiring disability clinical-care curricula for health professionals, requiring accessible medical and diagnostic equipment, and improving data collection. The framework provides a roadmap for fixing systemic barriers and includes many examples of documented health disparities and inquiries.
January 2022
The Maternal and Child Health Bureau’s State Title V Programs aim to address low rates of health care transition (HTC) preparation from pediatric to adult services. This report assesses the progress of these programs in implementing the Six Core Elements of Health Care Transition since 2017. The report also highlights how these efforts have been impacted by the COIVD-19 pandemic.
2021
2021 Program Year
This report from UN Secretary-General Guterres describes the steps that the UN has taken to implement their Disability Inclusion Strategy in 2020. The report also reflects on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people with disabilities.
December 1, 2021
The American Academy of Pediatrics published a new report highlighting guidance which encourages pediatricians to include children with disabilities in the physical activities of their peers, instead of focusing solely on the child’s disability as a barrier. The report also discusses how families should talk about fitness goals, likes, and dislikes in order to develop a movement plan to help with social inclusion and physical wellness.
November 2021
This strategic plan offers a roadmap for increasing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) in the Federal workforce. The Biden Administration aims to cultivate a federal workforce that represents the full diversity of the Nation and to advance equitable employment opportunities.
October 2021
This document provides the foundation for sustainable and transformative progress on disability inclusion through all pillars of the work of the UN. The strategy enables the UN system to support the rights of people with disabilities and other human rights measures. It promotes four core areas of responsibility: leadership, strategic planning, and management; inclusiveness; programming; and organizational culture.
Oct 22, 2021
Dual eligible beneficiaries, those who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid, have a high prevalence of chronic conditions and disabilities and substantial care needs and costs. Integrated care has the potential to coordinate the administration, financing, and delivery of services. The authors of this study used data on Medicare encounters from 2015 to analyze service utilizations and outcomes for dual eligible beneficiaries enrolled in three types of integrated care models. These outcomes were compared to their counterparts enrolled in regular, non-integrated care plans.
September 2021
In 2021, the RAISE Act Family Caregiving Advisory Council delivered key recommendations to support family caregivers, including a call for financial and workplace security and expanding home and community-based services. The goal of this publication is to help state officials better understand the policy landscape for supporting family caregivers and to help them identify opportunities for innovation.
September 2021
Most studies on parents with disabilities focus on mothers or combine mothers and fathers under a single category of “parents.” As a result, the needs, struggles, and experiences of disabled fathers are often overlooked. This brief describes what researchers at the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy have learned about disabled fathers. The brief is also available in Spanish.
September 22, 2021
The Recognize, Assist, Include, Support, & Engage (RAISE) Family Caregiving Advisory Council released their first report to Congress. The report is the culmination of a two-year effort to understand the issues faced by many family caregivers nationwide. The report provides 26 recommendations for addressing these issues, which fall under five goals.
July 2021
As of July 23, 2021, the United States had approximately 34 million confirmed cases and over 610,000 deaths related to COVID-19. Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) are at greater risk for infection and adverse health outcomes due to COVID-19 than individuals without I/DD. Despite high risk of COVID-19 infection and mortality among individuals with I/DD, there is no standardized national framework to facilitate the collection and sharing of COVID-19-related data for this population. An increased understanding of state collection and reporting of COVID-19 data; COVID-19 infection prevention strategies; and COVID-19 vaccine prioritization for the I/DD population at the state level may help inform future policies, programs, and practices that aim to reduce the risk of infection and mitigate adverse effects of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases for the population.
July 30, 2021
Consistent health insurance is critical for continuity of care and good health outcomes for working-age adults (age 18 to 64) with disabilities. From 2010-2011 to 2017-2018, the proportion of U.S. adults with disabilities who were uninsured for a full year fell from 17 to 9 percent. The proportion of adults with disabilities who had continuous coverage increased from 71 to 81 percent, largely driven by Affordable Care Act (ACA)-driven Medicaid expansions in 2014. However, adults with disabilities remained 50 percent more likely than adults without disabilities to be insured for only part of the year. Medicaid expansions under the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act of 2021 has the potential to further increase insurance coverage for this population.
July 23, 2021
People with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/DD) are at increased risk for COVID-19 infection and adverse health outcomes. However, data collection and reporting on this population varied widely across states and residential settings. This report found that less than half of states collected data for people with ID/DD by race, ethnicity, and age – limiting targeted allocation of resources and intervention. The authors suggest the implementation of a national framework for data collection and monitoring to improve the response to public health emergencies.
March 25, 2021
This brief uses 1-year estimates from the 2019 American Community Survey (ACS) to provide information about childhood disability in the United States. In addition to examining the prevalence of disability among children under the age of 18 in 2019, the brief assesses whether childhood disability differentially affected certain children and households. Finally, the brief compares childhood disability patterns in 2019 to those observed in 2008, when the current set of disability questions in the ACS was first introduced.
March 4, 2021
This report identifies 32 factors that can influence the transition from 14(c) employment to competitive integrated employment. Factors were divided into four categories: employee characteristics or views and views of their family, characteristics of employers, public policy, and local economy.
2020
October 15, 2020
The Office for Civil Rights released a report on the use of restraint and seclusion on children with disabilities in the 2017-2018 school year.
August 2020
The Education Department released an updated transition guide to help students with disabilities and their families understand the years-long process and their options. The updated 60-page guide addresses transition planning, transition services and requirements, education and employment options, and supporting student and youth’s decisions.
July 24, 2020
A new GAO report revealed that school facilities are not physically accessible to those with disabilities in in 63 percent of public school districts. Seventeen percent of districts have schools that do not serve students with physical disabilities because of such barriers. The most commonly reported issues included restrooms, interior doorways, and classrooms. Some school district officials reported an increase in the number of students with sensory processing disabilities. Updated facilities can also benefit these students, such as changes to lighting and acoustics.
April 21, 2020
According to a new GAO report, the Department of Education does not have an adequate quality check system to catch school districts that misreport data on restraint and seclusion, nor do they have a system that flags distracts that report excessively high or zero incidents. Additionally, data flaws prevented investigators from determining if restraint and seclusion was being used in excessive or discriminatory ways. The latest report is based on data from the 2015-2016 school year. A summary of the report is also available on the Disability Scoop.
April 14, 2020
ACL has released the Annual Report on Centers for Independent Living, which reflects the more than 236,000 individuals who benefited from community-based services in 2018.
2019
December 3, 2019
A GAO report found that parents of low-income and students of color with disabilities are far less likely to access their legal rights under IDEA than parents of white or wealthy students with disabilities. The report concluded that families in wealthy districts are more likely to file a dispute than those in low-income districts, and that schools with mostly white students are more likely to resolve disputes.
November 20, 2019
The National Council on Disability released the fifth and final part of their Bioethics and Disability Report Series, Medical Futility and Disability Bias. NCD found that many healthcare providers undervalue life with a disability and perceive those with disabilities as having a low quality of life. This results in deeming treatment “futile” or “nonbeneficial,” even when patients wishes otherwise.
November 6, 2019
The latest issue of the Bioethics and Disability Report Series discusses how the use of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) impacts people with disabilities and their access to care. The NCD determined that QALYs place a lower value on the lives of people with chronic illnesses and disabilities.
October 31, 2019
This report assesses how the U.S. Departments of Justice, Housing and Urban Development, and the Federal Communications Commission implement and enforce the Americans with Disabilities Act and other disability laws and programs. It is a follow-up to last year’s progress report.
May 24, 2019
The National Council on Disability has released a new report that examines occurrences of institutionalization of people with disabilities, as well as threats of institutionalization that were thwarted, in 2017 and 2018, including during Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, Florence, and Michael, and the California wildfires. The report found that people with disabilities are frequently institutionalized during and after disasters due to conflicting federal guidance; a lack of equal access to emergency and disaster-related programs and services; and a lack of compliance with federal law.
April 16, 2019
A new report from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission shows that complaints of disability discrimination in the workplace declined for the second year in the row. There were 24,605 charges of disability-based discrimination in the workplace last year as compared to 26,838 in 2017 and 28,073 complaints in 2016. Disability based discrimination accounted for 32.2 percent of all charges in the last fiscal year, making it one of the top reasons cited in complaints. The report also details the rates of other types of workplace discrimination.
April 11, 2019
A new Morbidity and mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) from the CDC provides updates on the progress made towards early identification of children with autism living in Arizona, Missouri, and New Jersey. The autism Prevalence was higher in New Jersey in 2014 compared to 2010 but was stable in Arizona and Missouri. These findings to not replace the April 2018 report from the ADDM Network.
2018
October 31, 2018
The National Council on Disability released its annual progress report, Has the Promise Been Kept? Federal Enforcement of Disability Rights Laws, which assesses the progress made by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the US Access Board since the NCD made recommendations in 2000. This report also considers the progress made by the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration, Office of Disability Employment Policy, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, Office of the Solicitor, and the Wage and Hour Division. The report provides recommendations on for these agencies on the implementation and enforcement of activities related to the Americans with Disabilities Act and other federal disability right, laws, and programs.
October 16, 2018
The National Council on Disability released a report on trends regarding American workers with disabilities being paid below minimum wage, recent policy changes impacting this employment model, and characteristics of for-profit entity use of subminimum wage work in their supply chains. This report is a follow-up to a 2012 report that recommended phasing out subminimum wage. This report renews its previous recommendations; evaluates the progress that the country has made toward that end; highlights the structural barriers that remain; and clearly identifies the risks should service systems not modernize.
October 9, 2018
Of the 74 state vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies that responded to GAO's survey, most reported expanding services to help students with disabilities transition from school to work as required under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), enacted in July 2014. Most state agencies reported serving more students and providing work-based learning experiences and other activities. The Disability Scoop reports that the GAO found that just 21 states met the requirement that 15 percent of their funds go toward helping students transition.
October 1, 2018
According to a new report on 26 Medicaid offerings across five states, states are facing challenges in meeting their obligations to provide HCBS for people with developmental disabilities. This includes difficulty in recruiting and retaining caregivers due to low pay, difficulty serving people with significant medical needs or behavioral issues, and limited funds and growing population. HCBS account for more than half of Medicaid spending on long-term care, but services vary widely across the country. The Disability Scoop released a summary of the report on November 2.
August 16, 2018
According to CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 1 in 4 adults in the US have a disability. This is the first CDC report of the percentage of adults across six disability types: hearing, vision, cognition, mobility, self-care, and independent living. Overall, mobility disability was found to be the most common disability type, followed by cognitive disability. However, cognitive disability was the most common type in young adults.
May 11, 2018
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on Improving Health Outcomes for Children with Disabilities produced this report on health outcomes for school-aged children with disabilities. The Committee reviewed and assessed programs, services, and supports that are available for children with disabilities and their families. The report also describes overarching program, service, and treatment goals; examines outreach efforts and utilization rates; identifies what outcomes measures; and describes what is known about the effectiveness of these programs and services. This report was requested by the Social Security Administration.
April 24, 2018
The U.S. Department of Education released the 2015-16 Civil Rights Data Collection (CDRC), which includes self-reported data from 17,300 public school districts and 96,400 public schools and educational programs. The Disability Scoop reports that according to the new data students with disabilities continue to be disciplined and experience restraint and seclusion at higher rates than others. Although 12% of students are served under IDEA and 2% under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, they account for a quarter of disciplinary actions. Additionally, most students who are restrained or secluded have disabilities.
Beyond Guardianship: Toward Alternatives That Promote Greater Self-Determination for People with Disabilities (HTML version), Full Report PDF
March 22, 2018
This report aims to gain a further understanding of guardianship and make recommendations for use by examining guardianship in the context of disability law and policy, examining how people with disabilities are treated in the legal system that establishes guardianship, examining alternatives to guardianship, making recommendations that align the use of guardianship and alternatives with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
March 8, 2018
This report assesses the application of federal disability laws in U.S. foreign aid programs administered by the U.S. Department of State (DOS), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Peace Corps. This report includes the estent to which these agencies ensure the inclusion of people with disabilities and remove barriers to access.
Not on the Radar: Sexual Assault of College Students with Disabilities (HTML version), Full Report PDF
January 30, 2018
NCD's study found that students with disabilities are not "on the radar" of colleges in their sexual assault prevention efforts, policies, or procedures for response and support after an assault.
2017
Federal Actions Needed to Ensure Parents Are Notified About Changes in Rights for Students with Disabilities (HTML version), Full Report PDF (3 MB)
November 30, 2017
The GAO estimates that about half of private schools that are participating in any voucher program mention disability services on their website. They also found that private school choice programs inconsistently provide information to parents on changes to their child’s rights and education when moving from a public to private school. The GAO urges Congress to consider requiring states to notify parents/guardians of changes to their child’s federal special education rights when they are moved from a public to a private school. They also urge the Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services to review and ensure the accuracy of information that the state provides to parents/guardians.
October 26, 2017
National Council on Disability released a progress report in October 2017. This report addresses reasons for the high rates of poverty and unemployment of people with disabilities. The report also highlights opportunities for improvement.
SSA Could Strengthen Its Efforts to Encourage Employment for Transition-Age Youth (HTML version), Full Report PDF (2 MB)
May 17, 2017
The purpose of this report was to examine the SSA’s incentives and assistance for transition-age youth who receive Supplemental Security Income in finding employment. This report uses data on work incentives from the years 2012-2015 and from five Vocational Rehabilitation agencies in 2015.
PCPID’s 2017 Report to the President provides an overview of the direct support workforce crisis and recommendations to address this issue. The report highlights how the direct worker shortage affects people with intellectual disabilities and their families, challenges within the direct workforce industry, and how these issues affect the U.S. economy. A plain language version of the report is also available.
2016
October 7, 2016
The 2016 edition of this report, which fulfills NCD’s statutory mandate to report annually on the state of disability policy in key areas, focuses on how information and communication technology (ICT) continues to transform modern life, and the potential ICT and assistive technology (AT) holds for improving how people with disabilities live in the world.
September 15, 2016
The Advisory Committee on Increasing Competitive Integrated Employment for Individuals with Disabilities submitted a Final Report to the Secretary of Labor and to Congress. The Final Report summarizes the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of the Committee on ways to increase competitive employment opportunities for individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities or other individuals with significant disabilities as well as the use and oversight of the certificate program as carried out under section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
This information appears as published in the GAO’s 2015 High Risk Report. Federal disability programs across government remain fragmented and in need of modernization. Numerous federal programs provide a patchwork of services and supports to people with disabilities, and work independently without a unified vision and strategy or set of goals to guide their outcomes.
Report on the Employment of Individuals with Disabilities in the Federal Executive Branch - Fiscal Year 2014 (PDF - 1MB)
This report is produced annually by OPM in accordance with E.O. 13548, Increasing Federal Employment of Individuals with Disabilities. To fully realize the goals set forth in E.O. 13548, the Federal Government has undertaken strategic efforts to maximize its utilization of the talents of people with disabilities. This report provides an overview of some of these efforts.
This report reflects the perspectives of what disability stakeholders, self-advocates, parents, providers, and state Medicaid staff are experiencing at the state and community levels, and includes NCD policy recommendations for HHS / CMS, Congress, and state governments.
Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Special Education (PDF – 3 MB)
This document provides the public with a set of tables showing the number and percentage of school districts that would be identified with significant disproportionality if ED’s example risk ratio thresholds were adopted by all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
The treaty allows “authorized entities” to create accessible versions of published materials and share them with individuals who need them to access the material at no cost.
This is the final report in a three-part series on ACA from NCD, each report considering a different aspect of ACA’s implementation, impact, or ongoing enforcement.
This report utilizes a formal literature review, interviews with key informants in ten states with diverse ACA implementation approaches, and a 50-state review of state policies involving key ACA provisions, such as decisions involving Medicaid expansion and selected essential health benefits of particular interest to people with disabilities.
This first report in the series provides a roadmap for monitoring the implementation of ACA and for making sure that this important federal law supports the outcomes the disability community has prioritized.
2015
This report provides testimonies and findings on the role of special education in the School-to- Prison Pipeline. The recommendations in this report focus on ways to improve existing special education delivery and enforcement systems to better meet the needs of students with disabilities who risk entering the Pipeline.
Self-Driving Cars: Mapping Access to a Technology Revolution (PDF – 693 KB)
The new report from the National Council on Disability maps out the emerging revolution in transportation technology and explores the ways these advances have the potential to increase independence for people with disabilities, along with an examination of the various roadblocks that may be encountered en route to that destination. The report evaluates current technology, regulatory considerations, and obstacles both scientific and political; and provides recommendations for preventing or eliminating barriers, including model legislative language.
National Disability Policy: A Progress Report (PDF – 946 KB)
This report published by the National Council on Disability focuses on employment, education, health care, transportation, and housing, and demonstrates the impact of federal legislation and the critical role that disability advocates and state and local officials have played who translate the spirit and letter of the ADA and other federal legislation into practice.
This is the annual report to Congress from the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities.
National Core Indicators is a collaborative effort between the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS)
and the Human Services Research Institute (HSRI). The purpose of the program, which began in 1997, is to support NASDDDS member agencies to gather a standard set of performance and outcome measures that can be used to track their own performance over time, to compare results across states, and to establish national benchmarks.
and the Human Services Research Institute (HSRI). The purpose of the program, which began in 1997, is to support NASDDDS member agencies to gather a standard set of performance and outcome measures that can be used to track their own performance over time, to compare results across states, and to establish national benchmarks. The National Council on Disability (NCD) published this policy brief, making substantive recommendations for the impending Congressional reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) in order to improve higher education outcomes for students with disabilities.
This report from the National Council on Disability identifies barriers, facilitators, and successful practices to providing effective emergency-related communications for individuals with disabilities
Accessibility of America’s Housing Stock: Analysis of the 2011 American Housing Survey (AHS) (HTML version) Full Report PDF (2 MB)
In this report, the Multidisciplinary Research Team presents summary measures of housing accessibility based on the 2011 American Housing Survey, which included questions related to disability.
In this report, the Multidisciplinary Research Team examines the characteristics of federally-assisted housing designated for disabled households living in the U.S.
This report was created by an interagency working group, the Federal Partners in Transition Workgroup, to identify ways to improve programs for youth with disabilities moving from school to work or higher education.
Home and Community-Based Services: Creating Systems for Success at Home, at Work and in the Community (PDF – 1 MB)
In this report, the National Council on Disability reviews the research on outcomes since the Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision, and reports that trends indicate that smaller, more dispersed and individualized community settings further integration and positive outcomes for individuals with disabilities.
2014
36th Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act/ (PDF – 3 MB)
The 36th Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 2014† describes our nation’s progress in (1) providing a free appropriate public education (FAPE) for all children with disabilities and early intervention services to infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families, (2) ensuring that the rights of these children with disabilities and their parents are protected, (3) assisting states and localities in providing for the education of all children with disabilities, and (4) assessing the effectiveness of efforts to educate children with disabilities.
Working age adults with disabilities who get no aerobic physical activity are 50 percent more likely to have a chronic disease such as cancer, diabetes, stroke, or heart disease than their active peers, according to a Vital Signs report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
CDC Community Report on Autism (PDF – 12 MG)
This community report summarizes the main findings from the following published report: CDC. Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Children Aged 8 Years—Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 11 sites, United States, 2010. MMWR 2014; 63 (No. SS 2):1-21.
2013
The following report outlines the results of the Federal Partners in Transition Workgroup’s Online National Dialogue, “Join the Conversation for Change: Help shape federal agency strategies for helping youth and young adults with disabilities successfully transition from school to work.” Responses from National Dialogue helped frame the efforts of the workgroup to develop an interagency strategy.
The Case for Medicaid Self-Direction: A White Paper on Research, Practice, and Policy Opportunities (PDF – 2 MB)
To assess the current state of knowledge and pinpoint remaining gaps that need to be filled with regard to self-direction as a strategy for organizing and delivering Medicaid funded services, in the fall of 2011 the National Council on Disability commissioned a study of Medicaid-funded self-directed services. This paper summarizes the key study findings, conclusions, and recommendations.
The Annual Disability Statistics Compendium (2013) by the federally-funded University of New Hampshire University Center for Excellence in Disability is a web-based tool that pools disability statistics published by various federal agencies together in one place, with statistics on people with disabilities and government programs that serve the population with disabilities. It is modeled after the Statistical Abstracts of the United States, published yearly by the U.S. Department of Commerce. The Compendium is designed to serve as a reference guide to government publications to make finding and using disability statistics easier.
2012
This report provides an overview of seclusion and restraint laws applicable to children in public and private schools, discusses whether allegations of student death and abuse from the use of these methods are widespread, and examines the facts and circumstances surrounding cases in which a student died or suffered abuse as a result of being secluded or restrained.
Residential Services for Persons with Developmental Disabilities: Status and Trends through 2010 (PDF – 3 MB)
(PDF – 3 MB)This report provides statistics on people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/DD) receiving residential and Medicaid-funded services in the United States. In great detail, it covers current populations and longitudinal trends of state residential settings; characteristics and movement of residents of large state facilities; services provided by state and nonstate agencies; utilization of and expenditures of Medicaid Institutional and Home and Community Based services. Profiles of trends in state residential services for each state are also included in this report.
This report describes the status of and trends in long-term supports and services (LTSS) for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD) in the United States on June 30, 2012 based on annual surveys of directors of state IDD agencies and large state residential facilities. The report is produced jointly by the University of Minnesota’s Supporting Individuals and Families Information Systems Project (FISP) and Residential Information Systems Project (RISP). The FISP and RISP projects are Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities’ (AIDD) data projects of national significance. For more recent publications, please visit https://risp.umn.edu/
This interim report from the Institute of Educational Sciences presents descriptive information on school-level accountability, adequate yearly progress (AYP), and school improvement status of schools accountable and schools not accountable for the performance of the students with disabilities (SWD) subgroup under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
2011
People with Intellectual Disabilities: Critical Supports that Promote Independence, Full and Lifelong Community Inclusion (PDF – 363 KB)
In this report, the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities (PCPID) identifies critical federal programs and services, including public investments in education, employment, health care, income support, and long-term services and supports that promote independence and lifelong inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities in their respective communities.
2008
The Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) at the Department of Labor sponsored a consortium of expert researchers to examine "corporate culture" and its impact on employment opportunities, experiences and engagement at work for persons with disabilities. The goal of this research was to identify how organizational structures, values, policies and day-to-day practices affect the employment of people with disabilities. The study's results are helping to shape future employer policy and corporate perceptions of the ways in which organizational policies, practices, procedures and environment affect the "inclusion" experience of individuals with disabilities in the workforce.
