A Guide to Disability Statistics from the National Health Interview--Disability Supplement
The Urban Institute
This paper describes the data in the National Health Interview Survey--Disability Supplement (NHIS-D) and how this trove of information can be used to better understand the lives of people with disabilities.
One product of this effort is a set of User Guides to national survey data that collect information on the disability population.
This User Guide contains information on the National Health Interview Survey --- Disability supplement (NHIS-D) that was fielded in 1994 and 1995.
The NHIS-D was a supplement to the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) in 1994 and 1995 and is one of the more comprehensive data sources regarding people with disabilities in the United States.
In addition to the broader disability questions used in the NHIS, the supplement contains additional questions that can help identify disability including questions about health conditions (both physical and mental), service receipt and program participation (e.g. SSI), activity limitations, and participation restrictions.
The supplement also contains extensive information about the different facets of the lives of people with disabilities including the types of services people with disabilities receive, transportation issues facing working age adults with disabilities, social activities of people with disabilities, vocational rehabilitation services, and disability accommodations.
For example, structural building changes such as accessible elevators may have not had time to fully be incorporated prior to the survey being fielded.
And indeed, Loprest and Maag (2001) use the NHIS-D to document that worksite features (accessible parking or transportation stop, elevators, or specially designed work stations) are the most common type of accommodation people with disabilities report that they need.
