The frequency and widespread dispersion of disabilities among members of the U.S. population reinforce the need for disability research. According to estimates, 4 million people need help simply to live, while 40 million report some kind of activity limitation. Disability also is distributed differently in the population according to characteristics of age, gender, race and ethnicity, and both the region and size of the locality in which a person resides. Poverty is a key factor––as a contributing cause and a result of disability. People with disabilities tend to have lower-than-average education levels, low income levels, and high unemployment rates.
For future research, NIDRR has started focusing on an emerging universe of disability, in which either the conditions associated with disabilities, their distribution in the population, or their causes and consequences are substantially different from those in the traditional disability population. The emerging universe is characterized by new disabling conditions; new causes for impairments; differential distribution within the population; increased frequency of some impairments, including those associated with the aging of the population; and different consequences of disability, particularly as related to social-environmental factors, life-span issues, and projected demands for services and supports.
Research Agenda for NIDRR
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