People with Disabilities: A Texas Profile

Concepts, Data Limitations, and Issues
This study analyzes multiple aspects of the population of individuals with disabilities at both the national
and state levels using several data sources. As with all research, the limitations associated with the data
sources determine the specific types of analyses that can be conducted. Additionally, this study
references and uses several technical concepts with specific definitions. In this section, the key
concepts, data sources, and the data limitations related to this research are detailed.
Concepts
Several important concepts and categories are used throughout this report and serve as the basis for
many of the analyses. The specific ways in which these concepts and categories are defined determine
the number of individuals in these categories and the description of their characteristics. The concepts
are conventional and frequently used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the Census Bureau. For
the sake of clarity and replication of the analyses, the important concepts and categories referenced in
this report are discussed in this section.
Disability
Disability is a complex and multidimensional concept. A single, universally accepted definition of
“disability” does not exist. The World Health Organization (2013) considers disability to be an umbrella
term, covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions. Rather than representing
a dichotomous category in which an individual either has or does not have a disability, degrees of
disability exist, ranging from minor to severe. Additionally, different individuals with the same degree of
disability may function at different levels because of personal and environmental factors.
In this report, individuals are considered to have a disability if they report having serious self‐care,
hearing, vision, independent living, ambulatory, or cognitive difficulties on the 2011 American
Community Survey (ACS). Difficulty and disability are therefore used interchangeably. Since the
questions asked on the ACS do not directly address disabilities resulting from mental disorders, the
estimates presented in this report may not include those individuals with psychiatric disabilities.
Estimates from the 2010 to 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) indicate that 4.23
percent of individuals 18 or older in Texas had serious mental illness in the past year (Substance Abuse
and Mental Health Services Administration, 2012). However, the number of individuals with serious
mental illness identified by the NSDUH cannot simply be added to the ACS disability data since an
unknown number of these individuals may also have a disability and therefore could be counted twice.
Noninstitutionalized Population
Some analyses in this report also reference the noninstitutionalized population. The
noninstitutionalized population is comprised of all individuals 16 years of age and older (including
members of the armed forces), who are not inmates of institutions such as prisons, mental health
facilities, or homes for the aged.
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