Anniversary of Americans with Disabilities Act July 26

This year is the 23rd anniversary of theAmericans with Disabilities Act. The law was intended to guarantee equal opportunity for people with disabilities in public accommodations, commercial facilities, employment, transportation, state and local government services and telecommunications. The requirements specified in the standards are the minimum.

Religious organizations and other agencies are not required to meet these standards, however, Unitarian Universalist congregations that strive to live in keeping with the 7 Principals seek to improve the engagement of people with disabilities sometimes well exceeding from minimum federal or state requirements.

In celebrating the 23rd anniversary of the ADA, EqUUal Access offers some information for you to consider.

In 2010 U.S. Census, 56.7 million people living in the United States self identified as a person with a disability.

8 percent of children under 15 had disabilities.

21 percent of people 15 and older had disabilities.

17 percent of people 21 to 64 had disabilities.

50 percent of adults 65 and older had disabilities.

Of the people 15 years of age or older

7.6 million people reported having a hearing difficulty. Among people 65 and older, 4 million had difficulty hearing.

8.1 million people reported having vision difficulty.

30.6 million people had difficulty walking or climbing stairs.

3.6 million people used a wheelchair to assist with mobility. This compares with 11.6 million people who used a cane, crutches or walker.

2.4 million people had Alzheimer's disease, senility or dementia.

12.0 million people required the assistance of others in order to perform one or more activities of daily living or instrumental activities of daily living, such as bathing, dressing, doing housework, and preparing meals.

33% of the civilian non-institutionalized population 18 to 64 with a disability were employed.

315,000 janitors and building cleaners are people with a disability ─ the most common occupation for people with disabilities. Among occupations with 100,000 or more people, dishwashers had the highest disability rate, with 14.3 percent.

$19,735 was the median earnings in the past 12 months for people with a disability. This compares with $30,285 for those without a disability.

23% of people with a disability were living in poverty. By comparison, those without a disability had a poverty rate of 15 percent.