Being an Immigrant with Disabilities

Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published detailed reports on the characteristics of adults with disabilities in the US, and its findings have shed light on types of disabilities by race and age group, little information is available on the prevalence of disability among the nonelderly immigrant adult population. This report is designed to fill that data gap -- an especially vital goal considering the importance of this kind of data in designing appropriate services and supports to immigrants with disabilities, a growing sub-set of the larger disability population. Although the term “double minority” is often used to describe immigrants with disabilities, the authors believe the term is a bit simplistic, as the obstacles facing immigrants with disabilities who belong to racial minorities and other marginalized communities may be even more formidable. Immigrant adults with disabilities are more likely to be employed than are US-born adults with disabilities, a situation probably resulting from their lack of eligibility for federal and state assistance programs. Often working in low-paying and physically demanding jobs, their disabilities are likely to worsen over time, and for immigrants without disabilities, the chances of acquiring a disability are high. The authors found that just under 6 percent of immigrants ages 18 to 64 have a disability, making this group about half as likely as US-born nonelderly adults to report a disability. However, consistent with their exposure to greater risk of injury, rates of disability tend to increase as immigrants advance in age. The report provides a full summary of the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of working-age immigrants with disabilities.

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