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The Graphic Truth: More disabled Americans are working and studying
How well does the world’s largest economy offer opportunities to those with disabilities? For National Disability Employment Awareness Month, we delved into the data from the Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey to find out.
The good news? Over the last decade, the one in 10 Americans with physical, developmental, or intellectual disabilities have made major progress in finding full-time employment and graduating from university.
The share of Americans aged 21-64 with at least one disability who held full-time employment rose from 20.9% in 2010 to 26.9% in 2021. Simultaneously, the share of the same demographic who hold at least a Bachelor’s degree grew from 12.2% to 17.9%. Both are the highest numbers on record since comparable data collection began in 2008.
America’s progress on tertiary education for people with disabilities is particularly laudable given that disability rights activist Eddie Ndopu recently told GZERO that 98% of children with disabilities in the developing world “never see the inside of a classroom.”
But many systemic barriers remain. According to the Center for American Progress, people with disabilities are too often the employees of last resort – the first out in a recession and the last in during boom times – which CAP says “showcases the persistence of systemic ableism in the labor market.” Indeed, Census Bureau data shows that full-time employment rates for people with disabilities cratered during the 2008 financial crisis and did not recover until 2019 – about four years behind the job market for the general population.
Income-based limits on government benefits are also a problem. CAP says programs including Supplemental Security Income, Medicaid, and Social Security Disability Insurance — without which millions of people with disabilities and their families would have no way to afford the medical care and social work support they need — “cut off support or result in penalization if even the most basic economic security is reached.” That means Americans who are ready and willing to work full-time must deliberately seek part-time work to avoid earning money that would result in losing the support they depend on to survive.
Eddie Ndopu: "People with disabilities need to be in leadership"
As many as 98% of disabled children in the developing world “never see the inside of a classroom” or go to school at all, says Eddie Ndopu. He could have been one of that vast majority. Born in Namibia, he was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy and expected to live for only five years. Now 33, Ndopu is a leading advocate for human rights and accessibility for all.
GZERO’s Tony Maciulis caught up with Ndopu at the UN General Assembly this week. The two discussed his role as one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Advocates, a prominent position he shares alongside leaders including Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados, and Microsoft’s Vice Chair and President Brad Smith. He hopes to bring a “fresh” perspective to the discussion of global development and help leaders understand the needs of the most vulnerable people, including those with disabilities.
Ndopu credits his success to his fiercely strong single mother, who never gave up on him despite all odds, and he continues to pay it forward and find new ways to raise awareness of the need for greater inclusion. He describes his recent memoir "Sipping Dom Perignon through a Straw" as “equal parts cheeky and incisive.” Just like him.
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