Demographics of Youth and Young Adults with Disabilities Who are Not Working and Not in School: Descriptive Findings from National Survey Data

The transition from school to postsecondary life can be difficult. Research shows that youth with disabilities are less likely than their nondisabled peers to successfully make this transition. The disparities in outcomes are larger for youth with disabilities who are from racial and ethnic minority groups. Minority youth are also more likely to be disconnected.

This Minority Youth and Centers for Independent Living (MY-CIL) practice brief is the fifth of a series in which the project will share key takeaways from its research with Centers for Independent Living (CILs) and other stakeholders about promising, evidence-based, and evidence-informed practices.

This brief presents characteristics of nonworking out-of-school youth with a disability nationally and at the county level and focuses on both demographic as well as socioeconomic characteristics. We used data from the IPUMS USA version of American Community Survey (ACS) from 2009 through 2019. The ACS is representative of the United States population and is the only publicly available data source that supports estimates of disability prevalence at the county level. The ACS identifies individuals with disabilities as those who report difficulty with at least one of the following: hearing, vision, cognition, mobility, self-care, or independent living. However, it may miss many individuals with disabilities, particularly those with mental health conditions.