How many people with disabilities live in Memphis?

(January 8, 2003) The US Census that occurs every ten years has been prepared, and sales managers, advertising executives, insurance adjusters and real-estate agents are studying the results. The census also reports generally the population of people with disabilities. The US Census Bureau reports that nearly 50 million Americans (49,746,248) state that they have a disability; that is over 19 percent of the “non-institutionalized” population of the country.

The still-present stigma of the label “disabled” may cause this number to be low. Many people avoid the term disabled (defined generally as a significant limitation of one or more major life activities) and substitute euphemisms like “frail” or “challenged” to avoid the stigma of admitting a disability. Others think that disability in some way is a medical analysis and confuse reporting disability with diagnoses. And more confusion is caused because a large number of people refer to disability as a payment source. For example, an individual may say they are “on disability,” to note that they receive Workers Compensation or Social Security without admitting that they have a disability.

The total figure does not include the Americans that are locked away in nursing homes, state hospitals and care facilities where 100% of the population have a disability. 

The figure for Memphis?

More than one in every five people in Shelby County has a disability or 168,706. That is slightly higher than the US total. The census figures show that people with disabilities in Memphis are employed at a higher rate than the national average (57.7% in Memphis versus 56.6% nationally), while people that report no disability have a lower employment rate (76.7 versus 77.2 nationwide).

Memphis and Shelby County were ahead of the national average in all age groups with disabilities as well. Most significantly in the older age range above 65 years old (46% for Memphis, 42% nationally). Below the age of 20 there is less than one percentage point difference, but in the largest group of working age people, the US Census figures show a difference of more than two percentage points (21.56% in Memphis and 19.2 nationally).

Click on the chart for the larger graphic. Link for the text version of this chart

The figures and statistics say different things to different people if they say anything at all. When I studied this data, I was struck by a fact that is not really represented in the numbers. I lived and worked in Memphis for nearly 10 years, and rarely saw people with disabilities out in public, on the bus, in restaurants, bars and at shows. Now I have been in Boulder Colorado for a couple of months and I commonly see people with disabilities at all the public venues.

The shocking part of this unscientific analysis is that it was my impression that more people with disabilities lived here, or a higher percentage of people with disabilities live in Boulder. The US Census reports, in fact, that Boulder has half the percentage of people with disabilities than Memphis (10.75% in Boulder 20.69% in Memphis). That is a significantly fewer people.

I do not think it is responsible for you to draw conclusions from my impressions, but I certainly have. I cannot help but think of Memphis as a sleeping giant. The city has huge number of hidden people with disabilities that have not flexed their power. I see Memphis as a community that has successfully kept disability out of the civic conservation and disempowered people with disabilities with the traditional tools of inequality, segregation, discrimination and poverty. The Memphis society has added to the ancient methods of bigotry and intolerance the instruments of shame, charity and pity to keep our community out of sight and mind.

- Tim Wheat

Population 5 to 20 years with a disability        
Boulder 5.95%
Memphis 8.86%
USA 8.06%
Population 21 to 64 years with a disability            
Boulder 9.52%
Memphis 21.56%
USA 19.20%
Percent employed with a disability                       
Boulder 64.80%
Memphis 57.70%
USA 56.60%
Percent employed with no disability                                
Boulder 80.60%
Memphis 76.70%
USA 77.20%
Population 65 years and over w/ disability        
Boulder 36.42%
Memphis 46.11%
USA 41.92%
Total Population with Disabilities
Boulder 10.75%
Memphis 20.69%
USA 19.34%