Developmental disabilities begin anytime during development up to 22 years of age and usually last throughout a person’s lifetime.
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Developmental Disabilities (DD), first defined in 1975 federal legislation now known as “The DD Act”, are a group of lifelong conditions that emerge during the developmental period and result in some level of functional limitation in learning, language, communication, cognition, behavior, socialization, or mobility.
The global literacy rate for adults with disabilities is as low as 3 percent, and 1 percent for women with disabilities.
82% of the general population is employed. Among all people with disabilities who are of working age, the employment rate is 52%. For people living with severe cognitive or physical disabilities, it is 26%.
Children from families with income below the federal poverty level had a higher prevalence of developmental disabilities.
The unemployment rate for people with disabilities is 65.4%; the national unemployment rate is 5%.
Students with disabilities have lower rates of participation in after-school activities, leading to decreased socialization and leadership development entering adulthood.
30 - 35% of all persons with intellectual or developmental disabilities have a psychiatric disorder.
Low birthweight, premature birth, multiple birth, and infections during pregnancy are associated with an increased risk for many developmental disabilities
An estimated 43.5 million adults in the United States have provided unpaid care to an adult or child in 2014.
Intellectual Disability (ID) is a lifelong condition where significant limitations in both intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior emerge during the developmental period (before adulthood).
Nearly one in 10 caregivers of a person with a disability is 75 years old or older.
Obesity rates for adults with disabilities are 58% higher than adults without disabilities.
Occupational therapy practitioners ensure that people recovering from illness, injury or with a disability can function in all their environments with the ability they have. They reduce health costs by promoting independence and self-care.
The lifetime probability of becoming disabled in at least two activities of daily living or of being cognitively impaired is 68% for people age 65 and older.
People with disabilities need health care and health programs for the same reasons anyone else does—to stay well, active, and a part of the community.
About 10 percent of the world's population, or 650 million people, live with a disability. They are the world's largest minority.
One in 68 children is diagnosed on the autism spectrum in the United States.
Children who have a sibling with ASD are at a higher risk of also having an autism spectrum disorder.
The acronym “IDD” is used to describe a group that includes either people with both ID and another DD or a group that includes people with ID or another DD. The supports that people with IDD need to meet their goals vary in intensity from intermittent to pervasive.
Developmental disabilities is common in the US (about 1 in 6 children) and that the number of such children increased 17.1% (about 1.8 million more children) over the past 12 years studied.
The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that in 2011, about 1.3 million people lived in nursing facilities.
For the first time people with I/DD are living into old age, responding to this emerging demographic means knowing the challenges to be met with community resources is essential.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death and disability in the United States, contributing to about 30% of all injury deaths.
The most common DD conditions are intellectual disability, Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, fetal alcohol syndrome, and fragile X syndrome.