Suggest Questions for Dept. of Labor Disability Statistics Survey

On December 1, 2010, the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) participated in a web conference hosted by Economic Systems Inc., in partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Every month, the BLS conducts a “Current Population Survey” of about 50,000 households.  Information collected through this survey is the primary source of labor force characteristics in the United States. The web conference discussed the development of a supplement to the Current Population Survey to collect more information about the employment of individuals with disabilities.

The Current Population Survey asks each household six disability-related questions:

1.    Is anyone deaf or does anyone have serious difficulty hearing?
2.    Is anyone blind or does anyone have serious difficulty seeing even when wearing glasses?
3.    Because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition, does anyone have serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions?
4.    Does anyone have serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs?
5.    Does anyone have difficulty dressing or bathing?
6.    Because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition, does anyone have difficulty doing errands alone such as visiting a doctor’s office or shopping?

The BLS and ODEP are interested in developing additional questions to get more specific information. They shared information about the kinds of questions they may ask. A copy of their presentation and other information from the meeting is available online at http://disabilitysupplement.econsys.com/ [2]. They also asked for input on other types of questions that could be included in the survey. The NAD asked the BLS and ODEP to include a question about individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing who use American Sign Language or rely on captioning as a job accommodation. This information may be useful to the Department of Labor in assessing job accommodations, employment, and discrimination against individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing. 

The NAD would like to know what questions you would like to see included in a survey about being deaf or hard of hearing and employment? Please post your suggestions in the comments below.