NOD Harris Poll: Significant gaps for people with disabilities in employment, technology, other key indicators; Little good news

[Posted by alaurie_97@yahoo.com]

NOD Harris Poll: Significant gaps for people with disabilities in
employment, technology, other key indicators; Little good news

By Jenifer Simpson, Senior Director of Government Affairs, AAPD:



On July 22, 2010, AAPD attended an event on Capitol Hill held by the
National Organization on Disability (NOD) where it released findings
from a May-June 2010 survey comparing people with and without
disabilities on thirteen key indicators.

The survey, “The 2010 Kessler/NOD Survey of Americans with
Disabilities,” reports that the largest gap is in employment with only
21% of working-age people with disabilities reporting full or part-
time employment, compared to 59% of people without disabilities -- a
gap of 38 percentage points. NOD asserts that while this gap has
decreased since first examined in 1998, it remains large and decline
is slow.

The second largest gap between people with and without disabilities is
regarding using technology to access the Internet. People with
disabilities are much less likely to use the Internet and this gap
exists across all age groups.

The report notes: 85% of adults without disabilities claim to use a
computer or other electronic device to access the Internet from home,
work or another location, whereas only 54% of adults with disabilities
report the same – a gap of 31 percentage points. The gap is smallest
among the youngest cohort but a difference still exists (10 percentage
points). The gap increases threefold among those 65 or older to 33
percentage points.

Other findings revealed that people with disabilities are still much
more likely to live in poverty, less likely than those without
disabilities to socialize with friends, relatives or neighbors, or
perceived that the ADA had not been helpful for them. Amongst these
stark results, two findings indicated some good news: the gap is
narrowing for people with disabilities receiving high school diplomas
as compared to people with disabilities, and there was no gap found –
the first time ever in the history of NOD/Harris gap polls for people
with disabilities -- on the measure of ‘political participation,’ a
survey question that asked respondents if they voted in the last
national election.

The event was kicked off by NOD Chairman, Tom Ridge, former Governor
of Pennsylvania and the First Secretary of the Department of Homeland
Security, and by Rep. Jim Langevin (D-RI) who said the numbers were a
“call to action” particularly in regard to job opportunity,
transportation and housing.

Humphrey Taylor, Chairman of The Harris Poll and member of the NOD
board stated the numbers indicate that “an enormous amount of work
needs to be done.” Rodger DeRose, CEO of the Kessler Foundation said
a second report, on Employment, would be released later this year, in
October.

The statistics release was well-attended also by some disability
advocates, including Yoshiko Dart, as well as representatives from
federal agencies such as FEMA, DOT, SSA and the State Department, and
companies such as AT&T and WalMart.

Read NOD Press Release at http://www.2010disabilitysurveys.org/pdfs/KesslerNODADApressrelease.pdf

Read Survey Report at http://www.2010disabilitysurveys.org/pdfs/surveyresults.pdf

View Powerpoint (colorful graphs, gloomy numbers) from Harris
Interactive Poll presentation at http://www.2010disabilitysurveys.org/presentation.html