Rural Health
Resources by Topic: People with disabilities
The Appalachian Region: A Data Overview from the 2019-2023 American Community Survey Chartbook
State- and county-level information on population, age, household characteristics, housing occupancy, education, labor force, employment, transportation, income, health insurance coverage, disability, and veteran status, for the 13 Appalachian states. Features statistics with breakdowns by 5 levels of population density. Includes data explorer options for Appalachian categories such as population and age, education, income and poverty, computer and broadband access, rural Appalachia versus rural America, and employment and commuting.
Additional links: Full Report
Author(s): Sara Srygley, Nurfadila Khairunnisa, Diana Elliott
Date: 06/2025
Sponsoring organizations: Appalachian Regional Commission, Population Reference Bureau
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State- and county-level information on population, age, household characteristics, housing occupancy, education, labor force, employment, transportation, income, health insurance coverage, disability, and veteran status, for the 13 Appalachian states. Features statistics with breakdowns by 5 levels of population density. Includes data explorer options for Appalachian categories such as population and age, education, income and poverty, computer and broadband access, rural Appalachia versus rural America, and employment and commuting.
Additional links: Full Report
Author(s): Sara Srygley, Nurfadila Khairunnisa, Diana Elliott
Date: 06/2025
Sponsoring organizations: Appalachian Regional Commission, Population Reference Bureau
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Disability Pride and Community Connection in Eastern Virginia: The disAbility Resource Center of the Rappahannock Area, Inc.
Case study highlighting the outreach efforts of The disAbility Resource Center of the Rappahannock Area, Inc (dRC), a Center for Independent Living (CIL) in eastern Virginia. Discusses the implementation and outcomes of peer mentoring and community engagement initiatives focused on supporting people with disabilities in underserved areas.
Author(s): Luke Santore, Lillie Greiman, Rayna Sage
Date: 05/2025
Sponsoring organization: University of Montana: Rural Institute for Inclusive Communities
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Case study highlighting the outreach efforts of The disAbility Resource Center of the Rappahannock Area, Inc (dRC), a Center for Independent Living (CIL) in eastern Virginia. Discusses the implementation and outcomes of peer mentoring and community engagement initiatives focused on supporting people with disabilities in underserved areas.
Author(s): Luke Santore, Lillie Greiman, Rayna Sage
Date: 05/2025
Sponsoring organization: University of Montana: Rural Institute for Inclusive Communities
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"I Now Have the Freedom to Do What I Want, When I Want, Like Anybody Else": The Impact, Creation, and Management of Transportation Voucher Programs
Explores the impacts and implementation of transportation voucher programs supporting people with disabilities in rural areas via interviews with CIL staff and disabled voucher program participants. Discusses the experiences of rural people with disabilities and highlights benefits and challenges of transportation voucher programs.
Author(s): Luke Santore, Andrew Myers
Date: 05/2025
Sponsoring organization: University of Montana: Rural Institute for Inclusive Communities
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Explores the impacts and implementation of transportation voucher programs supporting people with disabilities in rural areas via interviews with CIL staff and disabled voucher program participants. Discusses the experiences of rural people with disabilities and highlights benefits and challenges of transportation voucher programs.
Author(s): Luke Santore, Andrew Myers
Date: 05/2025
Sponsoring organization: University of Montana: Rural Institute for Inclusive Communities
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Rural Dissemination: Bridging Research and Practice for Aging and Disability Services
A recorded webcast that discusses strategies to ensure aging and disability research reaches hard-to-reach and rural areas. Provides examples of rural research, dissemination methods, and collaborative efforts.
Additional links: Presentation Slides, Transcript, Webcast
Date: 05/2025
Sponsoring organization: Center on Knowledge Translation for Disability and Rehabilitation Research
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A recorded webcast that discusses strategies to ensure aging and disability research reaches hard-to-reach and rural areas. Provides examples of rural research, dissemination methods, and collaborative efforts.
Additional links: Presentation Slides, Transcript, Webcast
Date: 05/2025
Sponsoring organization: Center on Knowledge Translation for Disability and Rehabilitation Research
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Reflections from Lived Experience: Disability and Public Libraries
Examines disability needs as related to rural public libraries and their services. Focuses on library networking, information resources, outreach, and accessing community resources in rural areas. Discusses library services such as assisting with health insurance and benefits enrollment, social connectedness, transportation needs, and more.
Author(s): Jeff Gutierrez
Date: 04/2025
Sponsoring organization: University of Montana: Rural Institute for Inclusive Communities
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Examines disability needs as related to rural public libraries and their services. Focuses on library networking, information resources, outreach, and accessing community resources in rural areas. Discusses library services such as assisting with health insurance and benefits enrollment, social connectedness, transportation needs, and more.
Author(s): Jeff Gutierrez
Date: 04/2025
Sponsoring organization: University of Montana: Rural Institute for Inclusive Communities
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Partnering for Research at Your Center for Independent Living: Tips from Your Peers
Fact sheet offering nine helpful conditions for partnering for research at Centers for Independent Living (CILs) as identified by staff of rural CILs and State Independent Living Councils (SILCs). Describes how the guidance was developed and core Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) principles.
Author(s): Krys Standley, Hannah Pepprock, Rayna Sage
Date: 01/2025
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Fact sheet offering nine helpful conditions for partnering for research at Centers for Independent Living (CILs) as identified by staff of rural CILs and State Independent Living Councils (SILCs). Describes how the guidance was developed and core Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) principles.
Author(s): Krys Standley, Hannah Pepprock, Rayna Sage
Date: 01/2025
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Annual Disability Statistics Compendium 2025
Additional links: Annual Report on People with Disabilities in America 2025
Date: 2025
Sponsoring organizations: Center for Research on Disability, Institute on Disability, University of New Hampshire, National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research
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Presents statistics on Americans with disabilities across key social and economic indicators derived from American Community Survey (ACS) data, including employment, educational attainment, health and healthcare, and more. Section 10 presents data on people with disabilities in rural areas, and compares the prevalence of disability, demographic characteristics, employment status, income, and insurance coverage status across metropolitan, micropolitan, and noncore areas.
Additional links: Annual Report on People with Disabilities in America 2025
Date: 2025
Sponsoring organizations: Center for Research on Disability, Institute on Disability, University of New Hampshire, National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research
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Experiences of People with Disabilities in Rural America 2025 Infographic ADSC
Date: 2025
Sponsoring organization: Center for Research on Disability
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Infographic on disability in rural America using American Community Survey data. Includes data on prevalence, employment, and poverty.
Date: 2025
Sponsoring organization: Center for Research on Disability
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Trends in Mental, Behavioral, and Developmental Disorders among Children and Adolescents in the US, 2016–2021
Analyzes mental, behavioral, and developmental disorders (MBDDs) in children and factors that contribute to MBDD outcomes. Utilizes 2016-2021 National Survey of Children's Health data with breakdowns according to prevalence and type of MBDD, receipt of healthcare services, parent and family well-being, community support and safety, and demographic characteristics of children with MBDD, including urban/suburban versus rural location.
Author(s): Rebecca T. Leeb, Melissa L. Danielson, Angelika H. Claussen, et al.
Citation: Preventing Chronic Disease, 21
Date: 12/2024
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Analyzes mental, behavioral, and developmental disorders (MBDDs) in children and factors that contribute to MBDD outcomes. Utilizes 2016-2021 National Survey of Children's Health data with breakdowns according to prevalence and type of MBDD, receipt of healthcare services, parent and family well-being, community support and safety, and demographic characteristics of children with MBDD, including urban/suburban versus rural location.
Author(s): Rebecca T. Leeb, Melissa L. Danielson, Angelika H. Claussen, et al.
Citation: Preventing Chronic Disease, 21
Date: 12/2024
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Population with Disabilities for Nonmetropolitan Counties
Printable map that shows the percent of population with disabilities nationwide by county. Data source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year Estimates
Date: 12/2024
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Printable map that shows the percent of population with disabilities nationwide by county. Data source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year Estimates
Date: 12/2024
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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