RE: Disability Stats

As you say, it depends on how you define "disability". Definitions are
better for some disabilities than others. For example, blindness is
relatively well defined but dyslexia is certainly not, so figures or
dyslexia vary more than figures for blindness. This can be seen by the
figures I quote below, which range from 1% to 8%! The same seems to be true
for hearing loss.

For what it's worth, here are some statistics I have collected, with
sources. I would appreciate if anyone has a reliable source for colour
blindness statistics.


Blind:

* 0.4% of Europeans are blind
(http://www.tiresias.org/guidelines/demographics.htm)

* Approximately 1.3 million Americans are legally blind (American Federation
for the Blind http://www.afb.org)

* US population 2000 = 284,796,887 (Bureau of the Census, quoted in
http://www.geohive.com/cd/us.php), therefore, 0.5% of US population are
legally blind


Visually impaired:

* Approximately 10 million blind and visually impaired people in the United
States (American Federation for the Blind http://www.afb.org)

* Approximately 1.3 million Americans are legally blind (American Federation
for the Blind http://www.afb.org)

* Therefore, approx 8.7 million or 3.1% in USA have a visual impairment
other than blindness


Low vision:

* 1.5% of Europeans have low vision
(http://www.tiresias.org/guidelines/demographics.htm)


Poor language skills:

* 25% of Irish adults 16-65 are functionally illiterate and approximately
another 20% can perform only simple reading and writing tasks (1999
Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, Literacy in the
Information Age - Final Report of the International Adult Literacy Survey,
published June 2000). The numbers are very similar for other Developed
countries, e.g. Western Europe and USA.


Dyslexia:

* About 1% of people suffer from dyslexia in the UK
(http://www.umds.ac.uk/physiology/daveb/brainday/stats.htm)

* 2% of Europeans are dyslexic
(http://www.tiresias.org/guidelines/demographics.htm)

* Based on international surveys (no major survey has been carried out in
Ireland), 8% of population suffer from dyslexia, with 4% needing
intervention (1999 http://www.local.ie/content/22347.shtml)


Learning difficulties:

* There are more than 200,000 people with severe learning disabilities in
the UK (http://www.umds.ac.uk/physiology/daveb/brainday/stats.htm)

* UK population July 2000 = 59,755,700 (Office for National Statistics,
quoted in http://www.geohive.com/cd/uk.php), therefore, 0.3% of UK
population have a learning difficulty

* 3.7% of Europeans are intellectually impaired
(http://www.tiresias.org/guidelines/demographics.htm)


Hearing loss:

* Around 17% of total adult population of Ireland have hearing loss – 11.33%
mild, 4.99% moderate, 0.54% severe, 0.14% profound (1999
http://www.local.ie/content/22347.shtml)

* 6% of Europeans are hard of hearing
(http://www.tiresias.org/guidelines/demographics.htm)


Deafness:

* 0.14% of total adult population of Ireland are profoundly deaf (1999
http://www.local.ie/content/22347.shtml)


Mobility & dexterity:

* 0.4% of Europeans use a wheelchair
(http://www.tiresias.org/guidelines/demographics.htm)

* 14% of Europeans have reduced coordination
(http://www.tiresias.org/guidelines/demographics.htm)

* 2.8% of Europeans have reduced strength
(http://www.tiresias.org/guidelines/demographics.htm)

* 0.1% of Europeans cannot use one arm
(http://www.tiresias.org/guidelines/demographics.htm)

* 0.1% of Europeans cannot use fingers
(http://www.tiresias.org/guidelines/demographics.htm)


Mark
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 Dr. Mark Magennis                     Head of Usability

   Frontend - Usability Engineering & Interface Design
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Received on Thursday, 18 April 2002 13:04:07 UTC