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Frank W. Young, Ph D, Rural Sociology, Cornell University, 324 Warren Hall, Ithaca, NY 14850, 607 255 4486, fwy1@cornell.edu
This paper illustrates a method for identifying types of communities and relating them to disability rates. A factor analysis of data from the Census and the Mapquest website for the 303 villages in western New York State generated four factors: services, satellite villages, regional centers and college centers. The correlations with three criteria, Work disability, Prevented from working and Mobility disability were then examined for the purpose of formulating hypotheses. The correlations for the affluent satellite and college villages were negative, as were the service and regional villages near cities. A plausible explanation for these correlations is that the cost of living in these villages worked against residence by disabled people. In contrast, people with disabilities tended to concentrate in the hinterland regional villages that offered medium levels of organizational support. These “disability friendly villages” combined lower costs of living with better services and employment opportunities. Although this method disverges from the conventional hypothesis-testing format, it is heuristic because it produces knowledge about the relationships of community structure and health and stimulates attempts to explain them. It can be applied inexpensively to all the communities in large regions and may be especially helpful for public health agencies seeking a broad overview as background to decision-making.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Disability,
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.