Disability News, Benefits, and Health Resources
"Disability is the only minority group that anyone can join at any time." - Josh Blue
Seventy million American adults live with a disability. Another 1.3 billion people worldwide (about the combined population of Europe and North America) share that experience, roughly 16 percent of the global population. Disabled World (DW) reports on the policies, research, benefits, and assistive technology that shape their lives. Coverage centers on the United States: Social Security and SSI payments, Medicare and Medicaid rules, accessibility law, and medical research relevant to American readers. International stories appear where they intersect with American policy or practice. Publishing since 2004 under the banner Towards Tomorrow. Learn more about us.
Did You Know:
- 1 - Autism diagnoses have risen dramatically: about 1 in 31 eight-year-old children (3.2 percent) were identified with autism in 2022 CDC surveillance data, up from 1 in 36 in 2020 and just 1 in 150 when the CDC first began tracking it among children born in the early 1990s.
- 2 - Disability rises sharply with age: about 8.7 percent of adults aged 18 to 29 report a disability, climbing to 43.9 percent among adults aged 65 and older.
- 3 - Childhood disability tracks closely with family income - 18 percent of U.S. children in families below the poverty level report a disability, compared with 11 percent of children in families at or above 200 percent of the poverty line. View more Disability Statistics.
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Recent Disability News and Information
Casting Broadway Paddington: Onstage Performer Role
New York casting office seeks an onstage performer 4 feet tall and under for the Broadway production of Paddington, with paid Equity minimum rates and workshop auditions. Published: 13 Jul 2026.
Disabled, Not Done: Building Recovery in Tennessee
Adam Watson shares how a brachial plexus injury led him to build The Sanctuary, a capability and recovery platform in East Tennessee. Published: 13 Jul 2026.
Wheelchair Users Kayak Komodo in Six-Day Expedition
Five wheelchair users will kayak over 100km across Indonesia's Komodo National Park in a six-day expedition raising funds for four spinal and cancer charities. Published: 13 Jul 2026.
Reflections on Accessibility: A Personal Perspective from a Radiology Technician
A Radiology Technician and childhood stroke survivor shares her path through paralysis, bullying, and bias to build an inclusive career in medical imaging. Published: 13 Jul 2026.
Popular Pages
Disability Loans and Grants: Financial assistance programs available for low-income families, seniors, and disabled students.
Famous People with Disabilities: Lists of well-known people with various disabilities and conditions who contributed to society.
Awareness Ribbon Colors: Guide to awareness ribbon colors for health, medical conditions, disability, and other causes.
Adult Height to Weight Chart: Ideal weight-to-height ratio for adult females and males.
Child to Teen Height to Weight Ratio Charts: Average height-to-weight ratios for children and teens organized by age.
Newly Updated Pages
Purple Washing: Disability and Performative Allyship: An examination of purple washing, where organizations use disability symbolism to appear inclusive while leaving accessibility barriers and hiring gaps in place.
Nothing About Us Without Us: Global Disability View: A personal essay on global disability, universal design, and the belief that including everyone at every level raises the whole human race.
Nothing About Us, Without Us - Don't Plan About Us Without Us: Nothing About Us Without Us is the disability rights principle demanding disabled people lead all decisions affecting their lives, from policy to research.
Dehydration and Cognition: Which Mental Tasks Suffer: A meta-analysis finds dehydration of 2 percent body mass loss impairs attention, coordination, and complex problem solving more than reaction speed.