A Guide to Disability Statistics from the Survey of Income and Program Participation

Among its many advantages, the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) includes several questions on health, functional limitations, employment, and participation in federal disability and other cash and in-kind assistance programs. It has therefore become the basis for several recent studies of people with disabilities that have focused, for example, on employment trends, changes in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and program participation (Burkhauser, Houtenville, and Wittenburg 2003; Kruse and Schur 2003; Hotchkiss 2003; Acemoglu and Angrist 2001; McNeil 2000; DeLeire 2000).

This paper discusses the utility of the SIPP in disability analyses, including a summary of descriptive statistics on people with disabilities from multiple SIPP panels, including the most recent SIPP panel (2001). It is part of a series of papers for the Cornell Statistics Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (Cornell Stats RRTC).

The findings provide insights into the various health, employment, income, and program participation outcomes that may be associated with different definitions of disability and illustrates the potential for using SIPP data in further disability analyses. Similar to the findings in the other user guide papers, our descriptive findings highlight the differences in the demographic composition and outcomes across disability definitions, underscoring the importance of carefully selecting an appropriate disability conceptualization in generating disability statistics.