Americans with disabilities comprise one of the largest minority groups in the United States. According to the Disability Status: 2000 - Census 2000 Brief [1], approximately 20% of Americans have one or more diagnosed psycho-physical disability.¹ This percentage varies depending on how disabilities are defined. According to Census Brief 97-5:, "About 1 in 5 Americans have some kind of disability, and 1 in 10 have a severe disability." The definition of a minority group can vary, depending on specific context, but generally refers to either a sub-group that does not form either a majority or a plurality of the total population, or a group that, while not necessarily a numerical minority, is disadvantaged or otherwise has less... The term disability, as it is applied to humans, refers to any condition that impedes the completion of daily tasks using traditional methods. ... A disabled person is one who has a condition called a disability that interferes with his or her abiltiy to perform one or more activities of everyday living. ...

Because Americans live in the only industrialized nation without universal healthcare, those with disabilities nevertheless can generally find adequate levels of subsidized support from a variety of sources, generally at the regional level. While most rural areas — especially in the Great Plains region — have little or no government-organized medical support infrastructure for the permanently disabled indigent population, most major urban centers have socialized healthcare systems. One of the largest developed systems is the Harris County Mental Health and Retardation Authority (MHMRA) [2]. Started in 1992 as a spinoff of the local University of Texas Health Science Center, MHMRA proved to be a success as it focused on handling complex Medicare and Medicaid paperwork for patients, in a system which greatly cut down on administration costs and sped the approval process. Publicly funded medicine is a level of medical service that is paid wholly or in majority part by public funds (taxes or quasi-taxes). ... The Great Plains states. ... Harris County is the name of several counties in the United States: Harris County, Georgia Harris County, Texas See also the disambiguation page Harris. ... 1992 was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... The University of Texas System comprises fifteen educational institutions in Texas, of which nine are general academic universities, and six are health institutions. ... There are several publicly funded health services in various countries called Medicare: Medicare (Canada) is a comprehensive, universal (for all the citizens and permanent residents in the country) public health financing system. ... Medicaid in the United States is a program managed by the states and funded jointly by the states and federal government to provide health insurance for individuals and families with low incomes and resources. ...

Americans with disabilities are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is the short title of United States Public Law 101-336, signed into law on July 26, 1990 by George H. W. Bush. ...

External Links

• Census Bureau Data on Disability
• The National Organization on Disability
• Americans with Disabilities Act
• American Association Of People With Disabilities
• DisabilityInfo.gov - The New Freedom Initiative's Online Resource for Americans with Disabilities

Notes

¹ According to the Disability Status: 2000 - Census 2000 Brief, "Census 2000 counted 49.7 million people with some type of long lasting condition or disability. They represented 19.3 percent of the 257.2 million people who were aged 5 and older in the civilian non-institutionalized population -- or nearly one person in five..."