According to the World Health Organization “disability” is an umbrella term, covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions. Individuals with or without a disability have the need for overall health care including preventive and therapeutic modalities. The disabled may have even a greater demand due to the limitations often associated with a disability including: poverty, social exclusion, physical and cognitive limitations to name a few. Evidence suggests that people with disabilities often face barriers in accessing the health services they need.

According to the 2010 Census report approximately 56.7 million non-institutionalized people with a disability reside in the United States. This number represents 20% or 1 in 5 adults living with a disability. Approximately 1 in 6 children aged 3 through 17 years, have one or more developmental disabilities. Table 1 highlights the prevalence of disability selected by age. The percentage of persons with a disability in all age groups between 6 and 64 hovers near 20%. Over the age of 65 that percentage increases to approximately 50%. This indicates that the greatest number of disabilities is seen within the senior cohort. Table 2 highlights the gender and race distribution of persons with disabilities. With no significant changes in the total percentage seen in the 5 year interval, blacks are reported to have an overall higher percentage rate of disabilities.

There are many types of disabilities that affect a person’s capacity to move, think, remember, learn, communicate and maintain social relationships and good mental health. In broad terms, a disability may be considered either a developmental disability or non-developmental disability. Developmental disabilities are a large group of chronic conditions that due to mental or physical impairment substantially limit one or more major life activities resulting in deficits in physical, learning, language, or behavioral areas. They may begin at any time from fetal growth and development until age 22 and last throughout ones’ lifetime.

A non-developmental disability is a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities due to a number of causes including accident, trauma, disease, infection, and behavioral and health risk factors that may occur at any time over the course of one’s lifetime.

Among adults, core indicators used by the Centers for Disease Control data on the presence of a disability were established by utilizing the 2004 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) questionnaire for having a disability. A positive response to either of the following questions granted disability status.

1) “Are you limited in any way in any activities because of physical, mental or emotional
problems?”

2) “Do you now have any health problem that requires you to use special equipment, such as a cane, a wheelchair, a special bed, or a special telephone?”