SMLR Info

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – In the first-ever quantitative study of disability among American politicians, Rutgers University researchers find an estimated 10.3 percent of elected officials serving in federal, state, and local government—a total of nearly 3,800 people—have disabilities. That is more than five percentage points lower than the overall disability rate in the adult population, suggesting that people with disabilities are underrepresented in the halls of power. However, the report finds three notable exceptions: younger people with disabilities, Native Americans with disabilities, and disabled veterans of recent wars are well-represented in politics. 

“People with disabilities cannot achieve equality unless they are part of government decision-making,” said Professor Lisa Schur, co-director of the Program for Disability Research in the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations and co-author of the report. “While there appears to be progress, our findings show they are still underrepresented among elected officials at all levels of government.”

The researchers analyzed 2013-17 data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, which measures disability based on four kinds of impairment (hearing, visual, mobility, cognitive) and difficulty with basic activities inside or outside the home. The Rutgers report, Elected Officials with Disabilities, finds:

• Raw Numbers: An estimated 3,793 of the 36,779 elected officials in the U.S. have a disability.
   
• Disability Gap: 15.7 percent of all adults and 10.3 percent of elected officials have a disability. That is a gap of 5.4 percentage points, suggesting that people with disabilities are underrepresented in politics. 
   
• Bright Spot: Three subgroups are well-represented: people with disabilities ages 18-34, Native Americans with disabilities, and disabled veterans from the Gulf War to present (including those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan).
   
• Big Difference: 12 percent of elected officials in local government have a disability, compared to 6.9 percent at the state level and 6.3 percent at the federal level.
   
• Disability Type: Hearing impairment is the most common disability among elected officials.
   
• Demographic Divide: The vast majority of politicians with disabilities are white, non-Hispanic men.
   
• Possible Growth: The number of elected officials with disabilities jumped from 8.5 percent in 2008-12 to 10.3 percent in 2013-17. However, the change is just within the survey’s margin of error.
   
• Research Note: Due to data limitations, these figures do not include unpaid or part-time elected officials. Only respondents who listed their primary job as elected official are represented in the report. In addition, the overall percentage of Americans with disabilities is likely understated because the Census Bureau’s questions may not capture several types of disability.

“Like other people with disabilities, politicians with disabilities often face stigma and questions about their ability to do the job. That’s why President Franklin D. Roosevelt hid his reliance on a wheelchair,” said Distinguished Professor Douglas Kruse, co-director of the Program for Disability Research in the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations and co-author of the report. “But there has been progress as shown by passage of the ADA, and now we have prominent politicians in both parties who don’t hide their disabilities.”

The National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) maintains databases of candidates and current elected officials with disabilities, including prominent figures like Texas Governor Greg Abbott and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois. In addition, NCIL recently launched Elevate, a non-partisan campaign training program for people with disabilities who are interested in running for public office.

The Rutgers report builds on NCIL’s work by providing advocates and policymakers with the first quantitative statistics on disability representation among elected officials. It is part of a larger project being conducted with Sally Friedman of the University at Albany-State University of New York and Richard Scotch of the University of Texas at Dallas.

Further Reading

People with disabilities comprise an increasingly powerful voting bloc heading into the 2020 election. An earlier report by Professors Kruse and Schur finds an estimated 14.3 million people with disabilities voted in the 2018 midterms, surpassing the number of Hispanic/Latino voters (11.7 million) and nearly matching the number of African-American voters (15.2 million. Twenty percent of all voters either had a disability or lived with a person with a disability at the time of the last election.

Press Contact

Steve Flamisch
Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations
848.252.9011 (cell)
steve.flamisch@smlr.rutgers.edu

About Us

The Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations (SMLR) is the world’s leading source of expertise on managing and representing workers, designing effective organizations, and building strong employment relationships. SMLR’s Program for Disability Research conducts and coordinates research on the economic, social, and political inclusion of people with disabilities. 

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