Understanding emerging disabilities

This research seeks to understand social and environmental characteristics that distinguish emerging from traditional disability populations. We qualitatively analysed how emerging disabilities are understood by persons with disabilities, and used these themes with a public use data source to analyse differences between emerging and traditional disabilities. Our findings first illustrate the difficulty in diagnosing and categorizing emerging disabilities. This is true for both persons who have these conditions and medical personnel who are expected to interpret them. Compared with persons with traditional disabilities, persons with emerging disabilities had less education, greater difficulties with activities of daily living, lower income, less private insurance, more frequent medical care and were less likely to work. The picture emerges of that of an underclass within society. There is an ongoing need for a referral and support system with greater recognition and acceptance of all disabilities, especially within independent living centers and among employers.