Percentage of Children with Disabilities Increased in Past Decade, CT Higher Than National Average

Over three million children – a total of 4.3% of the under-18 population in the United States - had a disability in 2019, according to newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The childhood disability rate in the United States was higher in 2019 than in 2008, up 0.4 percentage points.

In Connecticut in 2019, 4.4% of children under age 18, just above the national average, had disabilities, a total of approximately 30,000 individuals -19,664 male and 10,778 female,  according to a new U.S. Census Bureau brief.  

The Census Bureau examines rates of disability among U.S. children under age 18 using the 2019 American Community Survey (ACS) — the most recent data available — and the 2008 ACS, which first included the current set of disability questions.

In 2019, an estimated 2.6 million households had at least one child in the home with a disability. This represented 7.2 percent of the 36.7 million households in the United States that had children under the age of 18 in 2019. The percentage of children with a disability in the United States increased between 2008 and 2019, from 3.9 percent to 4.3 percent. Over three million children under-18 in the United States had a disability in 2019.

In 2019, states with the highest percentage of youth with a disability were Vermont 7.2%, Maine 6.1%, Louisiana 6.0%, Kentucky 5.9% and Arkansas 5.6%. 

According to the ACS, people are considered to have a disability if they have difficulty with one or more of the following activities: Seeing, Hearing, Concentrating or remembering (ages 5 and above), Walking or climbing stairs (ages 5 and above), Dressing or bathing (ages 5 and above), Doing errands alone such as buying groceries or going to the doctor (ages 15 and above).

The most common disability type among children both years was cognitive difficulty, which saw one of the largest jumps in prevalence between 2008 and 2019.  Disability rates among children were highest in the South and the Northeast, while the rate was lowest in the West. The data show some children and households were more likely to experience childhood disability than others.

In Connecticut in 2019, it was reported that there were 10,309 Hispanic youth under age 18 with a disability, 6,682 Black or African-American, 901 Asian or Pacific Islander, and 17,910 white. 

American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) children had the highest rate of childhood disability of all racial groups nationally, at 5.9% in 2019.  Children of more than one race (5.2%) and Black children (5.1%) had the next highest rates (disability rates for Black children and children of more than one race did not significantly differ from each other).  Non-Hispanic White children (4.3%) had a lower disability rate than American Indian and Alaska Native children, Black children, and children of more than one race, but a higher rate than Asian children (2.3%) and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (NHPI) children (3.2%).

In 2019 nationwide, children living in poverty were more likely to have a disability (6.5%) than children living above the poverty threshold (3.8%). The difference in the prevalence of disability between children below and above the poverty threshold is noteworthy. Families in poverty tend to have fewer financial resources to care for a child with a disability.

Differences in childhood disability rates across race and Hispanic origin groups may reflect differences in socioeconomic characteristics, according to the analysis.  The percentage of children with a disability also significantly increased for those of Hispanic origin. In fact, Hispanic children saw one of the largest percentage-point changes in disability prevalence between 2008 and 2019, from 3.4 percent to 4.3 percent, a 0.9 percentage point increase.

Children with disabilities may have additional needs that prevent one or more family members from participating in the workforce. This can create financial strain for families, and in some cases may contribute to a family’s entry into poverty.

Disability rates were significantly higher in 2019 than in 2008 for both children in poverty and those not in poverty. However, the percentage point increase was greater for children above the poverty threshold.

Research suggests that families that have a child with a disability have lower rates of maternal employment, for example, a situation that may result in fewer economic resources.

A longitudinal study that followed a sample of individuals who displayed symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as children, for example, found that 32% failed to complete high school, while less than one-quarter enrolled in college. These school completion and college enrollment rates were far lower than rates observed among a sample of individuals without disabilities from the same community.

Changes in public awareness and diagnosis of disability in the United States also may have contributed to the overall increase in the childhood disability rate between 2008 and 2019.  These trends, as well as differences in resources available to families to care for children with a disability, pose unique challenges to interpreting U.S. disability patterns, according to officials.