Federal Surveys Undercount People with Disabilities as Defined by the Amendments to the Americans with Disabilities Act

Disability measurement in federal surveys aligns with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) by focusing on major life activity limitations but has not evolved to align with the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, which expands the definition of major life activities to include major bodily functions. I find that people who ever had a major bodily function limitation were at least 30 percentage points less likely to be identified as having a disability, compared with people with major life activity limitations as defined before the amendments. The finding shows a disparity in disability identification in federal surveys. This disparity can be eliminated by expanding the scope of disability measurement to include major bodily function limitations. I quantify this expansion would increase the disability prevalence estimate among people aged 18–64 in the 2023 American Community Survey from 11 percent to roughly 27 percent, equivalent to 33 million additional people identified as having a disability.