In the USA, for data purposes a person is counted as disabled if she answers “yes” to one of six questions relating to vision, hearing, mobility, self-care, cognition, and intellectual ability. The last category is captured by questions relating to “independent living”, such as “Are you able to go shopping or visit the doctor on your own”.
Serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs (mobility) remains the most commonly identified disability in the USA (13%), more than vision (6%) and hearing (5%) combined. Those who identify their principal problem as self-care (4%), such as difficulty bathing themselves, may fall into a number of other categories, including cognitive and (11%) and intellectual disabilities (7%).
Read more in The Critic…