Group works to include people with disabilities in census count
February 19th, 2010
By Erica Demarest in Medill Reports at Northwestern University:
Disability rights advocates in Chicago have launched an effort to ensure that people with disabilities are counted accurately in the 2010 census. The Chicago Disability Complete Count Committee is part of a larger campaign targeting historically undercounted groups. An excerpt:
“There are many sub-communities within the disability community,” said Marca Bristo (above), president and CEO of Access Living, a group that services people with a variety of disabilities. “[Census workers] don’t know how to reach us. They don’t know the best way to get the word out in natural places where people with disabilities will find that information.”
There are no direct benefits specifically for people with disabilities since the standard 10-question census form does not ask whether a person is disabled. Still, committee members note that everyone benefits from a complete count.
Many do not participate in the census simply because they don’t know about it. With an unemployment rate of approximately 60 percent, a large number living in institutions and a litany of mobility problems, people with disabilities are more sheltered than the general population, experts say. They often never see census advertisements.
(Photo from Medill Reports)
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February 19th, 2010 at 2:12 pm
This is why i run into access problems in public. No access because people with disbilities don’t get out. We should be counted accurately to see the great need for access. I wish her success on her head count.