Disability Facts

There are Six Types of Disabilities

Sensory Disability	Self-Care Disability
Physical Disability	Go-Outside-Home Disability
Mental Disability	Employment Disability

Ø The chances of becoming disabled are probably greater than you realize. Studies show that a 20-year-old worker has a 3-in-10 chance of becoming disabled before reaching retirement age.

Ø Almost two out of every five people with a disability lived in the South, while about one in five lived in each of the other three regions of the United States.

Ø Census 2000 showed that people between the ages of 16 and 64 were less likely to be employed if they were disabled

Ø In 2000, 8.7 million people with disabilities were poor — a substantially higher proportion (17.6 percent) than was found among people aged 5 and older without disabilities (10.6 percent).

Ø Over the past six years, since the publication of ‘Priced Out: The Housing Crisis for People with Disabilities in 1998”, the national average income of a one person household receiving SSI disability payments dropped 25% relative to Median income from 24.4% of median income in 1998 to 18.4% in 2004.

The Disabled of North Carolina

Ø 725,000 of the 4,996,000 working-age individuals in NC reported one or more disabilities.

Ø Persons with physical disabilities constitute the highest percentage of disabled North Carolinians among the six types of disabilities.

Ø Persons with ‘Mental disabilities” constitute the second highest percentage of disabled

North Carolinians among the six types of disabilities.

Ø Severe mental illnesses are more common than cancer, diabetes, or heart disease.

Ø Nearly two-thirds of all people with diagnosable mental disorders do not seek treatment.

Ø Concern about stigma appears to be heightened in rural areas in relation to larger towns or cities.

Ø Of the estimated 700,000 people who are homeless on any given night, one out of four are estimated to have a severe, untreated psychiatric illness.

Ø Contrary to Media Stigma, studies have found that people with mental illness are no more violent than the general population.

Treatment success rates for severe mental illnesses.	Treatment success rates for other illnesses.
Panic 80%	bypass surgery 52%
Bipolar 80%	angioplasty 41%
Major depression 65-70%	Breast cancer 65%
Schizophrenia 60%	Colon/rectal cancer 65%
Obsessive compulsive 60%	Lung cancer 14%
	Total cancer cases 40%

Parity in Mental Illness Health Insurance Coverage

No matter the form, discrimination is wrong. Yet, mentally ill patients seeking treatment are discriminated against by requiring higher co-payments, allowing fewer doctor visits or days in the hospital, or higher deductibles than imposed on other medical illnesses.

Parity in Mental Illness Coverage Can Save Money

Providing equal coverage for all illnesses makes good economic sense; when mental illnesses go untreated, costs begin to escalate.

The 1999 Surgeon General’s report on mental illness estimates the direct business costs of lack of parity coverage of mental illness treatment of at least $70 billion per year, mostly in the form of lost productivity (absenteeism and “presenteeism-[coming to work sick]”) and increased use of sick leave. Other studies have shown that employees with inadequate mental health coverage resort to increased use of general health care services.

For more information contact:
 
  John M. Crowe, D.Min., APC
 Member, NAMI-NC 
 Member, NC Mental Health Association
 Incapacity Leave
 
 E-Mail drcrowe@nccumc.org
 Phone: 919 759-2146
 
 

This space is provided in partnership mission by the North Carolina Conference Information Technology and Communications, 
The United Methodist Church.
The content of this home page is the responsibility of the Committee on Disability Concerns.

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