According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), roughly one in four U.S. adults have some type of disability that can include several mobility disabilities, vision disabilities, cognitive disabilities, and sensory or hearing impairments.
As a result, additional support increases accessibility within the global and domestic sphere. For example, the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIH) states that approximately 15% of American adults (37.5 million) ages 18 and over report some trouble hearing, so the importance of accessibility cannot be understated.
Keep reading to learn more about the most common disabilities in the US and the most recent disability statistics of 2024.
Most Common Disabilities in the US
Before starting to mention statistics on the most common disabilities in the United States, here is a quick overview of the most common disabilities:
- Mobility disabilities
- Cognitive disabilities
- Vision disabilities
- Self-care disabilities
- Hearing impairments
- Mental health conditions
Let’s explore what each of these disabilities entail:
Physical Disabilities
Any condition that limits physical movement (e.g., muscular dystrophy, arthritis) or makes walking extremely difficult qualifies as a physical disability.
According to the CDC, roughly 12.2% of the U.S. population suffers from a mobility impairment, placing it ahead of visual, hearing, cognitive, and speech disorders.
Common conditions that cause mobility impairments include but are not limited to arthritis, muscular dystrophy, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis (MS), cerebral palsy, Parkinson’s disease, and spinal injuries.
The CDC also reports that the most common types of disabilities are cognition (13.9%), independent living 97.7&), hearing (6.2%), and vision (5.5%)
Cognitive Disabilities
There are several types of cognitive disabilities, including but not limited to the following:
- Intellectual disabilities: Inability to function in everyday living
- Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): Difficulty concentrating, affecting academic performance and similar factors
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): Often arising from traumatic experiences like wartime efforts, can lead to emotional and psychological damage over time
Sensory Disabilities
According to the CDC, about 12% of the American population over 40 years of age has moderate to severe vision impairment.
Common conditions that cause sensory disabilities include macular degeneration, noise-induced hearing loss, ear infections, glaucoma, and cataracts. For this group of people, accessibility to assistive technology like screen readers and tactile displays allows them to immerse themselves in the natural environment fully.
Intellectual Disabilities
Common conditions that cause intellectual disabilities include Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, Down syndrome, autism spectrum disorder, and fragile X syndrome, which comprise a mix of genetic disorders and conditions that can lead to developmental delays and other setbacks. It also includes mental health conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury, which can affect everyday tasks, academic performance, and more.
Mental Health Disabilities
According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), roughly 20% of adults experience a mental illness each year.
Some of the most common mental health conditions include depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. Ultimately, individuals with these conditions may experience severe hallucinations that require ongoing intervention through therapy and social services.
Statistics and Data on the Most Common Disabilities in the US
Here’s a small sampling of important statistics and data on the most common disabilities in the United States
- In the US, over 1 in 4 (27%) adults have some disability.
- 13.9 percent of U.S. adults have a cognitive disability
- 12.2 percent of U.S. adults have a mobility disability
- 7.7 percent of U.S. adults have an independent living disability
Future Accessibility Trends and Considerations
Here are four future trends and considerations we consider at the forefront of accessibility:
Ongoing Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Legislation
One of the biggest proponents of accessibility is the Americans with Disabilities Act, the federal legal mandate for equal access for individuals with disabilities across all areas of the public sphere, from transportation to employment.
Today, all businesses and organizations must ensure their digital platforms are fully compliant. For example, in the 2019 Robles v. Domino’s Pizza case, Domino’s was sued for having an inaccessible mobile app that did not allow users to make purchases easily.
Apart from this, the ADA has influenced design trends, with an ever-growing adoption of universal design across various types of spaces. This movement is complemented by awareness campaigns from organizations promoting accessible and inclusive design.
Over the past decade, many advancements have also been made related to flexible work arrangements (e.g., booming remote work post-COVID), which have provided a better work-life balance for individuals with hearing impairments, vision disabilities, developmental delays, and more.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) will always be critical in advising on future trends for companies that do not take physical and digital accessibility seriously.
AI-Powered Real-Time Navigation
Over the past decade, AI has risen to the forefront, providing real-time guidance for individuals with disabilities, especially. With public transport, AI-powered apps exist, allowing users with visual disabilities to move around through busy thoroughfares by receiving haptic vibration signals, complete with voice activation and tactile feedback.
Autonomous Vehicles
Much like Tesla’s ongoing efforts to be part of the Robotaxi Revolution, autonomous vehicles are at the forefront of innovation, equipped with the latest accessibility aids, such as voice interfaces.
Additional transportation tools that could benefit the visually impaired include self-driving buses utilizing natural language processing for voice commands, sensors that help the mobility impaired and their caregivers navigate more effectively, and automatic wheelchair-securing mechanisms that enable individuals with limited dexterity to feel secure in their seats.
Inclusive Ticketing and Payment Systems
Inclusive ticketing and payment systems should extend beyond conventional commerce websites today.
Additional options for individuals with disabilities include touchless and voice-activated payment methods that allow them to bypass traditional kiosks, which are often difficult to use. Facial recognition technology can also be utilized for reading current balances and accessing other account details.
Furthermore, some ticketing systems can eliminate the need for credit cards or paper tickets, allowing biometric technologies to read or scan a person’s finger for secure payments.
In short, there are many future trends and considerations to be excited about in the world of accessibility.
What Are the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines?
One of the foremost efforts to advance accessibility for individuals with disabilities is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
Established by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the WCAG provides a comprehensive framework for accessibility standards across websites and mobile applications. The WCAG operates on four principles—Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust.
Here’s a brief overview of what each principle entails:
Perceivable
Perceivability refers to the way information is presented on a web page per accessibility standards. Some features that exemplify this principle include alternative text for images, compatibility with formats like Braille, and simplified visuals, especially with high contrast between text and background colors to improve legibility.
Operable
Operability refers to the way user interfaces are built.
One heavy focus of this principle is keyboard management, which allows users to navigate an entire web page and control almost all functions using a series of keyboard shortcuts rather than a mouse. Regularly using a mouse can frustrate people with limited dexterity.
Additionally, physical space is crucial for individuals who use wheelchairs or have mobility impairments to access accessible entrances equipped with ramps, lifts, automatic doors, and other power-assisted devices that facilitate entry and exit. Best practices also call for clearing pathways so those with mobility aids (such as walkers and wheelchairs) can move freely.
Understandable
Understandability refers to how information is presented on a web page. This includes using properly formatted semantic HTML, correct use of ARIA attributes for dynamic elements, and adhering to other WCAG best practices for creating a more inclusive and accessible website and mobile application.
On the physical side, one example of the understandable principle is installing adjustable desks in the workplace. Allowing employees with physical disabilities to optimize their comfort enables them to become more productive and integrate better within their work environment.
Robust
Robustness focuses on how web pages and mobile applications are interpreted across various assistive technologies, such as screen readers and magnifiers. This implies the correct use of standard coding practices, particularly with HTML, CSS, and ARIA attributes.
In addition, there are three levels of conformance—Level A (Basic), Level AA (Intermediate), and Level AAA (Advanced), with most regions advocating for Level AA as the standard. However, we recommend striving to achieve the highest level of accessibility for a truly inclusive experience.
What About Self-Care Disability?
Another often forgotten disability that exists is self-care disability. According to the CDC, roughly 10.2 million older adults in the U.S. have issues with daily living, with self-care disability corresponding to several factors, such as age-related decline and cognitive impairments that affect one’s ability to memorize a to-do list or to bathe oneself.
As a result, this population requires specialized support through home health aids or family caregivers that may or may not have access to accessible infrastructure, such as widened entryways to enter homes and switch access for people with paraplegia, quadriplegia, spinal cord injuries, and multiple sclerosis.
With self-care disabilities, guidelines call for increasing accessibility standards in public bathrooms to accommodate limited mobility users. The Americans with Disabilities Act strongly calls for ADA-complaining infrastructure that ensures all individuals with disabilities enjoy full and equal access to any building.
Percentage of Websites with Accessibility Issues
No discussion of the most common disabilities in the United States is complete without mentioning the percentage of websites that have accessibility issues. Here are some statistics:
- 96% of the world’s top one million web pages are not accessible
- 22.1% of all images on website home pages don’t have alt text, many comprising of the roughly 815,600 accessibility issues across Fortune 100 corporate websites, as found via a WCAG accessibility audit
- 70% of government, news, and e-commerce websites are inaccessible to vision-impaired users
What Are Different Resources I Can Use To Learn More About Common Disabilities in the US?
There’s no shortage of resources available for anyone looking to learn more about the most common types of disabilities in the United States.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention annually reports on the country’s most common disabilities, including mobility and visual impairments.
Additionally, it serves as a treasure trove of accessibility and disability data. The Disability and Health Data System (DHDS) allows users to explore the prevalence of different types of disabilities across the country, broken down into helpful statistical categories such as visual impairment, mobility disability, cognitive disability, and more.
Another resource we highly recommend is the World Health Organization (WHO), which offers a more global perspective and reliable statistics on everything from country-specific disability rates to ongoing publications about the latest accessibility standards.
The American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) works closely with individuals with developmental disabilities, providing advice at the local and federal levels on policy recommendations and analyses that support increased accessibility funding across education, health, and other social programs.
They are always at the forefront of advocating for inclusive practices, ensuring that individuals with disabilities have equitable access to websites, mobile applications, products, and services.
The CDC, WHO, and AAIDD are just three of many organizations that do an exceptional job of providing resources to the public on disability data and accessibility insights, thereby increasing awareness about inclusivity and the need for individuals with disabilities to enjoy full and equal participation under the law.
Economic Impact of the ADA and WCAG
Ever since the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed into law in 1990, it has spurred significant statistics related to disability inclusion.
For example, the Federal Reserve’s Annual Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households states that disabled individuals in the United States have over $490 billion in purchasing power.
To watch an informative video, visit this Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2019.
The Disability Statistics Compendium
Another insightful statistic pertains to consumer preferences.
Time and time again, we’ve seen that consumers are likely to purchase from brands that demonstrate a commitment to inclusivity and diversity—even those benefiting from Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income. Ultimately, we appreciate this fact as it could boost PIs such as lower bounce rates, higher revenue, and increased overall conversion rates.
Let’s not forget the legal costs incurred by non-compliant businesses and organizations.
According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), legal penalties for non-compliance can range from $10,000 to $100,000 or more, depending on the type and extent of the damage.
Failure to increase WCAG compliance on your website or mobile application may inevitably lead to costly settlements, especially if you are a large, established brand or organization that engages with the public.
Lastly, the economic impact of individuals with disabilities extends to employment rates.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, individuals with disabilities who seek part-time or full-time jobs can reduce their reliance on government benefits by up to 40%, highlighting the power of ongoing education and increasing accessibility standards across both the public and private sectors.
A Word on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
With more than 60 million Americans living with a partial disability, the CDC is one of the most critical resources in the country for advocating for the needs of individuals with disabilities and promoting legislative efforts across the aisle, driving accessibility improvements in both the public and private sectors.
Let’s Talk About Accessibly
The Accessibly Accessibility widget is one of the leading ADA and WCAG accessibility overlay widgets on the web. Accessibly instantly improves your website or mobile application by introducing several features.
These features include enlarged content, additional reading lines, text-to-speech functionality, adjustable colors (e.g., brightness and contrast), and other specialized tools that enhance the user experience for individuals with disabilities, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and developmental delays.
Plus, Accessibly offers a free 7-day trial, during which you can gain instant access to our core features, including white labeling and a quick, dedicated snippet for your website. Implementation is easy—hardcode it onto your website or apply it as part of native integration on compatible platforms (e.g., Shopify).
Take advantage of Shopify’s former “Editor’s Pick.” Over 4,000 customers love our widget! Learn about the most common disabilities in the U.S., download Accessibly, and improve your website’s compliance today.
