II. D Target Population

	The Target Population consists of working-age (18-64), low-income persons with disabilities, an identifiable and significant group that is underrepresented in the workforce and one of the poorest minorities in the United States.  A disability is defined by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, U.S. Department of Education, as:  "a physical, mental, or emotional impairment that requires accommodation to allow performance of functions required to carry out life activities."  The Target Population served by The Abilities Fund cuts across gender, age group, ethnicity, and type and severity of disability.  Customers will be drawn from all over the nation:  a majority of people with disabilities have pressing financial need, regardless of where in the country they live and whether they come from metropolitan or rural areas.  This broad service area will ensure that assistance is provided for a representative range of people with disabilities across the nation.
	National statistics from a variety of sources document the economic distress of people with disabilities.  The past decade has seen unprecedented changes in public policy for people with disabilities, such as the 1990 passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), yet striking gaps in income, poverty, employment, and general satisfaction with life persist between those with and without disabilities.  Despite years of sustained economic growth and increasingly low unemployment nationwide, people with disabilities are still poorer than the rest of the population and continue to face overwhelming discrimination in the workplace and in life.  Even more alarmingly, statistics reflect no conclusive evidence that such disparities are lessening.  The Target Population selected faces significant financial inequity and a myriad of associated hardships.
Several different indicators can be used to demonstrate the economic distress of people with disabilities.  Depending on age and definition of disability, the poverty rates of people with disabilities range from 50% to an outrageous 300% higher than the general population.  Furthermore, more than one third (34%) of people live on a "very low" household income of less than $15,000 per year, compared to just 12% of people without disabilities (NOD).  Poverty is directly related to the ability to work-while one in ten working-age adults with no work limitations live in poverty, the rate is three times greater for those with some work limitations, rising to 38.3% for working-age adults with a "severe disability."  Although part of this difference is due to the greater number of part-time and temporary workers in the disability population, the poverty rate among full-time, year-round workers with disabilities is still 60% higher than among their counterparts with no disabilities (DSC).
	Significant income discrepancies exist between Americans with and without disabilities, regardless of gender and age.  Those with disabilities who are employed earn only 72% on average of what workers without disabilities earn annually.  Comparing full-time, year-round workers, average monthly earnings for males with disabilities are $1,560 and for females are $1,100, while males without disabilities average $2,190 and females, $1,470 (SIPP). (See Figure 1.)   Difference in earnings increases sharply as people get older.  While the youngest age group (16-24) does not differ appreciably in mean yearly earnings from the average for all workers of these ages, average earnings of people with disabilities ages 25-54 are lower by 26.8%, while this figure rises to 42.6% for ages 55-64 (CPS).  This substantial income gap persists across demographics such as gender.
	
Figure 1: Median monthly earnings, by disability status and gender, 21-64 years




In addition to the disparity in income, poverty level and employment status, people with disabilities experience enormous inequality in many other aspects of life.  A 1998 poll of 1,000 adults with disabilities commissioned by the National Organization on Disability (NOD) in cooperation with Louis Harris & Associates, reports that only 33% are "very satisfied" with life in general, compared to 61% of adults without disabilities.  Fewer than half (45%) said that people generally treat them as an equal after learning they have a disability.  Another source reports that only 37% of adults with disabilities feel they are generally treated fairly, and less than 40% say they are able to choose personal goals, although 85% of these persons say they are able to attain their goals (Council).
	These low rates of satisfaction and high rates of discrimination carry over to the workplace.  The NOD/Harris survey reported that only 35% of working people with disabilities had any choice in their employment.  Discrimination still abounds, as evidenced by the 109,000 employment discrimination complaints under ADA received by the U.S. Employment Equality Opportunity Commission between fiscal years 1992 and 1998.  Nearly one in three (30%) working-age people with a disability have encountered job discrimination directly related to their disability, the majority of whom (63%) were refused a job because of their disability, and 22% of whom are paid less than their co-workers without disabilities.
	People with disabilities are spread throughout the country, in both urban and rural areas, and across all manner of demographic characteristics.  Commonly cited figures for the number of Americans with a disability fall between 43 and 48 million (NIDRR).  According to the 1994-95 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), conducted by the Bureau of the Census and covering the noninstitutionalized population of U.S. residents, 32 million people ages 15 to 64--or 18.7% of the general working-age population--have a disability. (See Figure 2.) Of all people ages 18 to 64, 10.5% have a "work limitation", a disability that affects amount and type of work, according to the 1992 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), a nationwide sampling of households done by the National Center for Health Statistics. 

Figure 2: Disability status of noninstitutionalized population, 15-64 years


	


Gender is not a significant factor in the occurrence of disabilities, while increasing age is correlated positively with prevalence.  Men and women ages 16 to 64 have similar rates of work disability at all ages: 9.8% of males and 10.1% of females have a work disability.  By age group, the rates of work disability in people ages 16-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, and 55-64 are 7.6%, 12.6%, 23.1%, 26.7%, and 30.0%, respectively (CPS).  The chronic health conditions that cause work limitations in the most people ages 18 to 64 are mobility limitations (38% ) and chronic diseases (32%), while the next highest causes are sensory (8%) and intellectual (7%) limitations (NIDRR).  
	Disability cuts across residential locations, although the South has the highest rates of work disability, and rural areas have consistently higher rates than urban areas.  The regional rates of activity limitations range from 13.7% in the Northeast to 16.3% in the South (NHIS).  According to the 1990 U.S. Census, the average national rate of work disability is 9.7%, and the state rates range from 6.2% (New Jersey) to 12.6% (West Virginia).  (See Figure 2.)  In terms of urban versus rural residences, 79.5% of all people live in metropolitan counties, of whom 8.4% have a disability, while of the 20.5% who live in non-metropolitan counties, 23.3% have a disability.  

	Figure 3: Map showing rates of work disability, by state  



	There exists an obvious link between the income gap for people with disabilities and their employment status.  Of all people ages 16 to 64, only 26% who have disabilities are actually employed, while the employment rate of those without a work disability is 78% (CPS).  (See Figure 4.)  Yet 72% of people with disabilities who can work but do not have jobs say that they would like to work and contribute to the country's economy.  Two of every five Americans with disabilities say that their disability has prevented them from working (NOD).  People with disabilities who are employed are often forced to work fewer hours than their peers; well under a fifth (17%) work full-time, compared to the nearly two thirds (63%) of employed people without disabilities who have full-time jobs (CPS).  

Figure 4: Labor force data by work disability status, 16-64 years




Unemployment persists for people with disabilities across age and residence as well.  The unemployment rate for people with disabilities ages 16 to 24 is 22.5%, as opposed to 10.2% for those without.  These rates then decline by age group, down to 7.0% for people with disabilities ages 55 to 64 and 3.0% for those without disabilities.  Similar trends occur in terms of labor force participation, which includes all people of working age who are either employed or actively seeking employment, by age group.  (See Figure 5.)



Figure 5: Labor force participation, by disability status and age group




As for regions of the country, the South again has the highest percentage of people with disabilities who are not working, although all areas have employment rates for people with disabilities that are consistently lower than for people without disabilities.  The employment rate for people with disabilities ranges from a low of 20.3% in West Virginia to 48.4% in Minnesota.  (See Figure 6 below.)  Such low employment rates across the board for all people with disabilities plays a huge part in the financial distress of this Target Population (Census). 


Figure 6: Map showing percentage of people with a work disability working, by state, 16-64 years


	
For a variety of reasons, people with disabilities have a much lower chance of finding and keeping fulfilling employment. Twenty-six percent of employed people with disabilities report difficulty in getting the kind of job they wanted because of their disability.  Furthermore, less than half (46%) of those employed full-time feel their job requires their full talents and abilities.  The barriers people with disabilities face in finding satisfactory employment are numerous, the most significant being that the job "didn't pay enough" (47%), that there was poor access to public facilities and transportation (27%), and that employers did not provide adequate health insurance (23%).  Lack of money is considered the most serious by far of a list of potential problems; 68% of people with disabilities cite it as at least a minor problem, of which 39% feel it is the most serious problem they face. Approximately two-thirds (67%) of adults with disabilities say their disability has prevented them from "reaching their full abilities as a person" (NOD).   Without question, the Target Population suffers economic hardship, cutting across age and sex, across type and severity of disability, and across the nation.