Adults With Disabilities On The Rise

 Posted on February 08, 2010 in Social Security Disability

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released a disturbing report about the number of people with disabilities in the United States. According to the report, more than one in five American adults is reporting that they have a disability. While the CDC does not give an age range for any of its figures, nor does it specify the difference between reported versus unreported cases, it does indicate that the number of adults that reported having disabilities grew 3.4 million between 1999-2005.

The enormous growth in the number of adults with disabilities has reached a staggering 22% of the population. The most common complaints according to this report are rheumatism, heart disease, arthritis, and back and spinal problems. The CDC report also found that approximately 24.4% of women reported having disabilities compared with 19.9% of men, regardless of age. What the CDC report failed to specify on was why the number of adults with disabilities has grown so rapidly in recent years. Other articles on their website, which can be found at http://www.cdc.gov, describe the vast increase due in part to the aging baby boomer generation and the American diet. However, there was no real data to explain the reason for the significant increase in the number of disabled adults in the U.S. Stay tuned for my next blog post, which will discuss the Healthy People 2010 objectives for helping improve the lives of those in the disabled community.