37,000,000
ESTIMATED AMERICANS
LIVING WITH A DISABILITY

The estimate ranges from 37 million to 57 million people in the United States.

GENERAL DISABILITY FACTS

  • Approximately 22% of American adults have a disability. This includes disabilities relating to vision impairment or blindness, hearing impairment, physical movement or mobility, cognition, memory, learning, communication, behavior and mental health.
  • In Missouri, about 24% of adults have a disability.
  • The chance of having a disability goes up with age, from less than 10% for people 15 years of age or younger, to almost 75% for people 80 years of age or older.
  • In 2006, disability-associated health care expenditures accounted for 26.7% of all health care expenditures for adults residing in the United States and totaled $397.8 billion.
  • The unemployment rate for Americans with a disability was 10.7% in 2015, more than twice that of those with no disability (5.1%).

Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – Disability and Health website, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics – Persons with a Disability: Labor Force Characteristics 2015

For more information on disabilities, visit the CDC website.

3,500,000
ACQUIRED BRAIN INJURIES
PER YEAR IN THE U.S.

That's more than one every second.

ACQUIRED BRAIN INJURY (ABI)

  • Acquired brain injuries (ABI) are any injury to the brain that is not hereditary, congenital, degenerative, or induced by birth trauma (For example; Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s disease are neurodegenerative brain conditions, and thus are not considered ABI.)
  • Typical causes of ABI include:
    • Electric shock
    • Infectious disease
    • Lightning strike
    • Near drowning
    • Oxygen deprivation (hypoxia/anoxia)
    • Seizure disorders
    • Stroke
    • Substance abuse
    • Toxic exposure
    • Tumor
    • Trauma (a subset of ABI referred to as “traumatic brain injury”)

For more information on brain injury, visit the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) website.

2,500,000
TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURIES
PER YEAR IN THE U.S.

That's one every 13 seconds.

TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY (TBI)

  • Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are a subset of ABI and that are caused by trauma to the brain from an external force.
  • TBIs make up about 5.5% of all injuries reported in the United States.  TBIs comprise 4.8% of all injuries seen in emergency department visits and 15.1% of all hospitalizations. Of all the injury-related deaths in the United States, TBI was a contributing factor 30.5% of the time.
  • Percentage of annual TBI by cause: Falls are the leading cause at 35.2%, 17.3% are from motor vehicle–traffic injuries, 16.5% are the result a strike to the head, 10% are caused by assaults and 21% are due to other/unknown causes.
  • Rates TBI from falls are highest among children aged 0 to 4 and adults aged 75 and older.
  • Rates of TBI are higher among men than among women, across every age group.
  • About 75% of TBIs that occur each year are concussions or other forms of mild traumatic brain injury.

Source: Traumatic Brain Injury in the United States: Emergency Department Visits, Hospitalizations, and Deaths. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control; 2010.

For more information on traumatic brain injury, visit the CDC website or the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) website.

3,500,000
AMERICANS LIVING WITH AN
AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER

About one in every 68 children born will be diagnosed with an ASD.

AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER (ASD)

  • Autism, or autism spectrum disorders (ASD), refers to a range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication. The term “spectrum” helps to represent and clarify that there is a the wide variation in challenges and strengths possessed by each person with autism.
  • ASD commonly co-occurs with other developmental, psychiatric, neurologic, chromosomal and genetic diagnoses.
  • Scientists believe that both genetics and environment likely play a role in ASD.
  • While there is no cure for ASD, therapies and behavioral interventions can remedy specific symptoms and can substantially improve those symptoms. Medications can help some people with ASD function better and treat symptoms.
  • An estimated 50,000 teens with autism age into “adulthood” each year – losing school-based autism services as a result.
  • ASD is about 4.5 times more common among boys (1 in 42) than among girls (1 in 189).
  • ASD is reported to occur in all racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups.
  • Almost half (about 44%) of children identified with ASD has average to above average intellectual ability.
  • Even though ASD can be diagnosed as early as age 2, most children are not diagnosed until after age 4.
  • Parents who have concerns about their child should seek an evaluation with a qualified healthcare professional as soon as possible, as early intervention can improve outcomes.
  • If you are an adult with concerns that you may have an ASD, we recommend this resource from Autism Speaks, which can help you understand ASD and clarify whether you should pursue professional evaluation. It also helps adults who are recently diagnosed to navigate and access services and resources.

Source: Community Report from the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities; 2016.

For more information on autism spectrum disorders, visit the CDC website, the Autism Speaks website or the Autism Society website.