Measuring Disability

This book argues that health measurements are given artificial authority if they are particularly amenable to calculability and easy measurement, and shows that problems often coalesce around disabilities that do not lend themselves to easy quantification.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is engaged in redesigning its disability determination process for providing cash benefits and medical assistance to blind and disabled persons under the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program and the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program (Title II and Title XVI of the Social Security Act). The agency has undertaken a multiyear research effort to develop and test the feasibility, validity, reliability, and practicality of the redesigned disability determination process before making any decision about its national implementation. Survey Measurement of Work Disability reviews and provides advice on this research. One of the major areas for review is the ongoing independent, scientific review of the scope of work, design, and content of the Disability Evaluation Study (DES) and the conduct of the study by the chosen survey contractor. This report identifies statistical design, methodological, and content concerns and addresses other issues as they arise.

The Society Security disability program faces urgent challenges: more people receiving benefits than ever before, the prospect of even more claimants as baby boomers age, changing attitudes culminating in the Americans With Disabilities Act. Disability is now understood as a dynamic process, and Social Security must comprehend that process to plan adequately for the times ahead. The Dynamics of Disability provides expert analysis and recommendations in key areas: Understanding the current social, economic, and physical environmental factors in determining eligibility for disability benefits. Developing and implementing a monitoring system to measure and track trends in work disability. Improving the process for making decisions on disability claims. Building Social Security's capacity for conducting needed research. This book provides a wealth of detail on the workings of the Social Security disability program, recent and emerging disability trends, issues and previous experience in researching disability, and more. It will be of primary interest to federal policy makers, the Congress, and researchersâ€"and it will be useful to state disability officials, medical and rehabilitation professionals, and the disability community.

As a voluntary organization of National Statistical Office representatives, the Washington Group addresses problems in statistical methods associated with the measurement of disability. This volume features papers which reflect a sampling of the work done by the Washington Group to address disability, an important public health problem.