Landes Comments on US Census Bureau Changes to Survey Question About Disability in Science Article

November 18, 2023

Science

Scott Landes

Sociology Department

Aging Studies Institute

Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health

Disability

Government

United States

Science

Scott Landes

The U.S. Census Bureau may soon change the way one of its nationwide surveys asks about disability, sounding the alarm for many researchers and activists. The proposed change would dramatically decrease the official number of people in the United States who are considered disabled.

“Disabled people are already underserved,” says Scott Landes, associate professor of sociology and O'Hanley Faculty Scholar. Altering the way the Census Bureau gathers disability statistics, he argues, will generate “inaccurate information.”

Read more about the proposed change in the Science article, “How many in the U.S. are disabled? Proposed census changes would greatly decrease count.”