Roughly 40 million Americans, or 12 percent of the adultpopulation, have a disability, according to research by the U.S.Department of Health and Human Services that was recently analyzed by the Center for DiseaseControl and Prevention.
|Related: Disabled employees give their workplaces mixedreviews
|The National Health Interview Survey data from 2011 to 2014 alsohighlights the extent to which those with disabilities endure muchgreater economic hardship than others.
|Those with one disability are more than twice as likely to livein poverty, lack a high school diploma, or be unemployed than thosewithout a handicap, according to the research. For those withmultiple disabilities, the economic outlook is even worse.
|Employed people with disabilities also make far less on averagethan others. Just over 60 percent of the disabled population has anincome below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, a rate morethan twice that of the general population.
|Related: Who's most, leave supportive of disabilityaccommodations?
|The barriers to prosperity for people with disabilities aregreat and have been widely documented. Transportation challengesmake it more difficult with those with physical handicaps to getand hold jobs. While discrimination based on disability is illegal,there is undoubtedly plenty of it, both conscious and unconscious,on the part of employers.
|Indeed, a 2012 study by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics found that morethan half of those with a disability report facing some type ofemployment barrier, including “lack of education or training, lackof transportation, the need for special features at the job and aperson's own disability.”
|Nonprofits and government agencies are encouraging employers tounderstand the benefits of hiring people with disabilities.
|Related: Feds seeks to increase job opportunities fordisabled
|The U.S. Department of Labor recently announced a seventh round of fundingfor the ongoing Disability Employment Initiative, which connectsdisabled people seeking jobs with potential employers. Most of themoney is doled out to state governments, which use the money on jobcenters and training programs aimed at increasing employment amongthe disabled population.
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