It would require the US Census Bureau to count individuals who have two or more disabilities and not just one of them.
Rep. April McClaine Delaney (D-Md)
Washington DC (KM) It’s the first bill she’s introduced since being elected to Congress. Sixth District Representative April McClain Delaney says she and 15 other House members have put forward legislation requiring the US Census Bureau to record the number of citizens who are both deaf and blind. Currently, when it does its annual American Community Survey., the Bureau only counts one disability, and not if that person has more than one. She says it will help those who are both deaf and blind.
“All this does is it allows this data collected through the Census Bureau and other means. We are able to figure out what is needed, the number of people who experience a combination of multiple disabilities and hearing problems, and how to address them,” she says.
McClain Delaney says this data will help the federal government be more informed about the deaf-blind community, and some of the challenges it faces. “And by the way, there’s a significant population of deaf-blind individuals in states like Maryland, Texas and Florida and many others,” she says.
And, McClaine Delaney says, it will also help children who are deaf and blind. “It will also really help intervene in kids at an earlier. age,”: she says. “Children’s deaf blindness will impact their educational attainment.”
The legislation is called the Disabled Americans Table Approximation (DATA) Act. McClaine Delaney says it has a good chance of passage. “Sometimes it takes two or three sessions. But I’ve worked in non-profits a long time, and you start building coalitions and really impacting people. This has a lot of bipartisan support so I’m very optimistic,” she says.
In addition to Representative McClain Delaney, there other House members co-sponsored this bill: : Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL-20), Cohen (D-TN-09), Crockett (D-TX-30), Don Davis (D-NC-01), Doggett (D-TX-37), Fitzpatrick (R-PA-01), Goldman (D-NY-10), Fields (D-LA-06), Lawler (R-NY-17), Mannion (D-NY-22), McGarvey (D-KY-03), Mullin (D-CA-15), Norton (D-DC-AL), Takano (D-CA-39), Tlaib (D-MI-12).
By Kevin McManus