1. In 2008, the percentage of people with a disability in North Carolina was 13 percent. In other words, almost 1.2 million North Carolinians had a disability out of a total of approximately 9 million.

 

2. People with disabilities often face difficulty when seeking employment. The employment rate of working-age people (21-64) with disabilities in NC was 39.7 percent in 2008, compared to 80.1 percent of working-age people without disabilities; that is a 40 percent gap.

 

3. In 2008, the median income of households that include any working-age people with disabilities was $35,800 in North Carolina.  The median income of households that do not include any working-age people with disabilities was $54,500; thus the difference in the median household income between working-age people with and without disabilities was $18,700. In the same year, the poverty rate of working-age North Carolinians with a disability was a little over 25 percent, while the poverty rate of those without a disability was 10.6 percent.

 

4. Among the many barriers that people with disabilities face is limited educational opportunity, specifically at the collegiate level. In 2008, among working-age people with disabilities in North Carolina, only 10.6 percent had a Bachelor’s degree or more, compared with 29.4 percent of people without disabilities.

 

5. An estimated 294,000 North Carolinians, or 4 percent of the population, have difficulty performing self-care activities or routine activities, also known as Activities of Daily Living, such as dressing, bathing, running errands, or getting around inside the home.

 

 

 

SOURCES

 

1. Erickson, W. Lee, C., & von Schrader, S. (2009). 2008 Disability Status Report: North Carolina. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Demographics and Statistics, http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/edi/disabilitystatistics/reports/report.cfm?fips=2037000&subButton=Get+HTML

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. Ibid.

5. Center for Personal Assistance Services, “Disability Prevalence in North Carolina: 2008-2009,” http://www.pascenter.org/state_based_stats/disability_prevalence.php?state=northcarolina.