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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Andew J. Houtenville, PhD, Antonio Ruiz-Quintanilla, PhD, and Robert Weathers, PhD. Employment and Disability Institute, Cornell University, ILR Extension Building, Ithaca, NY 14850, 607-255-5702, ajh29@cornell.edu

This paper uses a conceptual model of disability derived from the World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) to assess and categorize survey questions. The first part of the presentation discusses ICF concepts and shows how current survey questions on disability map to ICF concepts. The second part of the presentation uses the ICF framework to examine estimates of the size of the population with disabilities and subsequent outcome statistics (e.g., employment, poverty, income) across national surveys. The national surveys we use include the American Community Survey (ACS), the decennial Census long form, the Current Population Survey (CPS), the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), and the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). The final part of the presentation uses the conceptual model to assess several current efforts underway to develop new survey questions—including the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) disability questions to be tested in the February 2006 CPS and new questions being developed for the 2008 ACS.

Learning Objectives:

The goal of our presentation is to help audience members (
• articulate the basic concepts of the ICF, (
• apply ICF concepts when considering survey questions used to identify the population with disabilities, (
• develop an understanding of the major sources of national and state level disability statistics, (
• recognize that the underlying definition of disability will impact outcome measurement, (
• assess new disability questions that are currently in development in the context of the ICF.

Keywords: Disability, Statistics

Related Web page: www.disabilitystatistics.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No