People with Disabilities: a Perspective

Statistics from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Disability Impacts All of Us

• 70 million adults in the US live with a disability, or 28.7% (1 in 4)
• Percentage of adults in the US with functional disability types (may overlap with other types):
  • 13.9 percent have a cognition disability with serious difficulty concentrating, remembering or making decisions
  • 12.2 percent have a mobility disability with serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs
  • 7.7 percent have an independent living disability with difficulty doing errands alone
  • 6.2 percent are deaf or have serious difficulty hearing
  • 5.5 percent have a vision disability with blindness or serious difficulty seeing even when wearing glasses
  • 3.6 percent have a self-care disability with difficulty dressing or bathing

Statistics from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Disability & Health U.S. State Profile Data for Texas (Adults 18+ years of age)

• 6,004,166 adults in Texas live with a disability, or 29% (1 in 4)
• Percentage of adults in the US with functional disability types (may overlap with other types):
  • 14 percent have a cognition disability with serious difficulty concentrating, remembering or making decisions
  • 13 percent have a mobility disability with serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs
  • 7 percent have an independent living disability with difficulty doing errands alone
  • 6 percent are deaf or have serious difficulty hearing
  • 6 percent have a vision disability with blindness or serious difficulty seeing even when wearing glasses
  • 4 percent have a self-care disability with difficulty dressing or bathing

Assistive technology (AT) turns a disability into an ability. For example, closed captioning is assistive technology. It allows someone who cannot hear what is said to read or see what is said instead.

Assistive technology helps people with disabilities. Learn about a variety of disabilities and barriers below. They have more information on how your efforts improve the access of EIRs.

Some assistive technology can be used by people without disabilities. Think about how we use ramps, escalators, and automatic doors! Check out what assistive technology could do for you, including AT right on your own device!

Accommodations can be a combination of AT and converted content component. For example, a transcription provides what is said. Closed captioning on a video player is an accommodation.

• Without a transcription, the closed captioning interface does not provide an accessible video.
• Without a transcription, the closed captioning interface cannot translate text into another language. (e.g. English to Spanish)

Check out some examples of alternate methods for accommodating people with disabilities.

Visual Disabilities (e.g. blindness, color blindness, low vision, color blindness, macular degeneration, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and retinitis pigmentosa)

Hearing Disabilities (e.g. hard of hearing and deafness)

Motor Disabilities (e.g. hemiplegia, palsy, paraplegia, quadriplegia, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, Lou Gehrig's disease and Parkinson's disease)

Cognitive Disabilities (e.g. ADHD, ASD, Down syndrome, dyslexia, mental health disabilities, memory impairments, speech, multiple sclerosis and seizure disorders)

• WAI: Perspectives: Explore the Impact and Benefits for Everyone [Videos]
• WAI: How People with Disabilities Use the Web - Diversity in Web Use
• Android devices
• Apple iPad (iOS)
• Apple iPhone (iOS)
• Apple Mac (macOS)
• Windows devices

• (October 28, 2016) Tarleton State University News & Information. Tarleton students use new Maker Spot to create orthotic for stroke patient.
• York, Rachel Diane. (October 14, 2016) Dassault Systems SolidWorks Corp. Gig ‘Em: How One Aggie is Changing the Way Students Navigate Campus.