Census Report: About One in Five Americans Has a Disability

May 7, 2001 Census Report: About One in Five Americans Has a Disability Nearly one in five people (53 million) say they had some level of disability in 1997, while one in eight (33 million) reported having a severe disability. These results were released by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau in March 2001, in a report called, Americans With Disabilities: 1997. The Census Bureau defines a person with a disability as someone who has difficulty performing functional tasks or daily living activities or meets other criteria, such as a learning or developmental disability. People are severely disabled if they . . .