People with a Disability [Washington (State)]
State of Washington Geospatial Open Data Portal · 2025 Full Details
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- Title
- People with a Disability [Washington (State)]
- Description
- This data is included as part of the Environmental Health Disparities Version 3.0 map. To see this map, visit our webpage . For more technical information on this map and the model used, visit our technical report (link). Background Pollution does not impact people equally. People with disabilities are often more impacted by pollution than people without disabilities. Two major reasons for this are: Pollution is more harmful to their health. They are exposed to more pollution. People with disabilities often experience greater overall physical and mental health challenges. This can be due to lack of access to health care, limited mobility, or increased rates of other chronic health conditions. As a result, they may be more vulnerable to the impacts of pollution. Furthermore, people with disabilities may struggle to obtain quality health care services. They may face financial, cultural, and structural barriers. This can make their health problems, including the impact of pollution, more severe. Additionally, people with disabilities tend to have fewer financial resources. People living on a fixed income, such as Social Security Disability Insurance, are more likely to be limited to living in areas that have more pollution. There is more information about how income influences pollution exposure in the data note on Population Living in Poverty. Disability intersects with other characteristics and identities such as age, race, education, housing, and health insurance coverage. The set of identities each person has influences their experience. Historically minoritized communities face a double burden. They have both higher rates of disability and face more inequities in health, social, and economic status. Evidence People with disabilities are disproportionately exposed to air pollution [1]. People living with disabilities are more likely to report greater health challenges. They also have higher rates of smoking, physical inactivity, and other chronic health conditions [2]. After adjusting for socioeconomic differences, adults with a disability are 2.9 times more likely to have heart disease, 1.6 times more likely to have cancer, and 2.6 times more likely to have diabetes [3]. This combination of higher levels of exposure and chronic disease puts them at greater risk of health issues from pollution [4]. Disability is not race and ethnicity neutral. Black and Hispanic adults with diabetes have a higher incidence of amputation than non-Hispanic white adults with diabetes. Non-Hispanic Black adults with a mobility disability are more likely to report difficulties with daily living activities, diabetes, and depression [5]. Data source American Community Survey 5-year estimates, S1810 Methods The U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) asks respondents detailed questions on social and economic topics. This measure was developed using census tract-level disability characteristics data from the ACS's 5-year estimates. This measure shows the percent of the non-institutionalized population that reports having at least one disability. The survey asks about six types of disabilities: Hearing Vision Cognitive Ambulatory Self-care Independent living See the ACS disability page for more information on disability definitions. For more information on how ACS data is collected and processed, refer to ACS General Data Users Handbooks . Data Source Variables Used Calculations Performed* ACS 5-year average, S1810 , Disability Characteristics S1810_C01_001, S1810_C01_019, S1810_C01_029, S1810_C01_039, S1810_C01_047 Non-institutionalized population: S1810_C01_001 # with 1 or more disabilities: sum( S1810_C01_019, S1810_C01_029, S1810_C01_039, S1810_C01_047 ) % with 1 or more disabilities: sum(S1810_C01_019, S1810_C01_029, S1810_C01_039, S1810_C01_047 ) / S1810_C01_001 * For margin of error (MOE) calculations, refer to U.S. Census Bureau, A Compass for Understanding and Using American Community Survey Data Appendix 1 . For MOEs in which we derived either the numerator or denominator of a proportion from multiple ACS variables, see "Calculating MOEs for Aggregated Count Data." For MOEs derived from proportions, see "Calculating MOEs for Derived Proportions." The data table shows the estimate for this variable minus the MOE (lower ME) and the estimate plus the MOE (upper ME). Caveats The set of questions used by the ACS is known to underestimate neurological disability, psychiatric disabilities, and chronic illnesses [6]. These questions only allow yes or no answers. This may leave out people with intermittent symptoms or who have technologies, medications, or services that mitigate their disability. The margin of error shows how much uncertainty there is about whether the survey data accurately represents the full population. The confidence interval is the estimate plus or minus the margin of error. There is a 90 percent probability that the true population value is within the confidence interval, after accounting for sampling variability. All survey data have some margin of error due to sampling variability. Results from smaller populations are less reliable because of their smaller sample sizes, leading to a larger margin of error. Counts for American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander populations are known to be less reliable. The survey design attempts to address these issues through increased sampling rates in smaller populations and on Tribal lands. The data may also have non-sampling errors, which aren't shown in the tables. These can happen if there are problems with the survey questions, if there are issues with processing or weighting the data, or if certain groups of people don't respond [7]. Individuals with a distrust for government, more concerns about privacy, and who are very busy are less likely to respond to the survey. This measure is aggregated across the census tract and does not represent each individual community within the tract. These data should always be supplemented with local data and equitable engagement for more accurate insights. ACS bundles data in one-year, three-year, or five-year groups to get more reliable results. To have census tract data on all 39 counties in Washington, we use the ACS five-year grouping. Sources Chakraborty, J. (2022). Disparities in exposure to fine particulate air pollution for people with disabilities in the US. Science of The Total Environment 842:156791. Centers for Disease Control (CDC). (2024). Disability and Health. Related Conditions. Dixon-Ibarra A, Horner-Johnson W. (2014). Disability Status as an Antecedent to Chronic Conditions: National Health Interview Survey, 2006-2012. Preventing Chronic Disease 11:130251. Kodavanti UP. (2019). Susceptibility Variations in Air Pollution Health Effects: Incorporating Neuroendocrine Activation. Toxicologic Pathology. 47(8):962-975. Blick R.N., Franklin M.D., Ellsworth D.W., Havercamp S.M., Kornblau, B.L. (2015). The Double Burden: Health Disparities Among People of Color Living with Disabilities. Ohio Disability and Health Program. Hermans, A., Morriss, S., Popkin, S. 2024. An Opportunity for the Census Bureau to More Accurately Estimate the Disabled Population in the US. Urban Institute. https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/2024-02/An_Opportunity_for_the_Census_Bureau_to_More_Accurately_Estimate_the_Disabled_Population_in_the_US.pdf Pickering, K. (2022, December 9). Nonresponse in census surveys [PDF]. Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee. U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. https://apps.bea.gov/fesac/meetings/2022-12-09/Pickering-FESACNonresponse-in-Census-Surveys-12092022.pdf Citation Washington Tracking Network, Washington State Department of Health. Web. "People with a Disability". Data obtained from the American Community Survey, 2019-2023 S1810 Data. Published September 2025.
- Creator
- WADOH
- Publisher
- State of Washington Geospatial Open Data Portal
- Temporal Coverage
- Last Modified: 2025-10-21
- Date Issued
- 2025-07-08
- Rights
- Neither the Washington State Department of Health (WADOH), nor any agency, officer, or employee of the WADOH warrants the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of any information published by this system, nor endorses any content, viewpoints, products, or services linked from this system, and shall not be held liable for any losses caused by reliance on the accuracy, reliability, or timeliness of such information. Portions of such information may be incorrect or not current. Any person or entity who relies on any information obtained from this system does so at their own risk.
- Access Rights
- Public
- Format
- ArcGIS FeatureLayer
- Language
- English
- Date Added
- February 02, 2026
- Provenance Statement
- The metadata for this resource was last retrieved from State of Washington Geospatial Open Data Portal on 2026-02-02.
Cite and Reference
-
Citation
WADOH (2025). People with a Disability [Washington (State)]. State of Washington Geospatial Open Data Portal. https://geo.wa.gov/datasets/1e7a3dc7c23c4831b39822d4c74f1fca_0 (web service) -
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