Disability and Health Data System (DHDS) Overview

Key points

  • The Disability and Health Data System (DHDS) provides quick and easy access to data on demographics and health information for adults with disabilities.
  • The data tool provides state- and national-level data on approximately 30 health topics for adults with disabilities.
  • Users can customize maps, charts, and tables by indicator or location.
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What is DHDS?

Disability and Health Data System (DHDS) is an online source of state-level data on adults with disabilities. Users can access information on six functional disability types:

  • Cognitive (serious difficulty concentrating, remembering or making decisions)
  • Hearing (serious difficulty hearing or deafness)
  • Mobility (serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs)
  • Vision (serious difficulty seeing or blindness)
  • Self-care (difficulty dressing or bathing)
  • Independent living (difficulty doing errands alone)

Data on more than 30 health topics among adults with or without disabilities can be explored in DHDS, including smoking, obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.

Users can customize data maps, charts, and tables, making it easy to see information about their state or region. They can identify health differences between adults with and without disabilities overall, and by age, sex, and race/ethnicity. Data can be used in presentations, reports, and grant applications, or to inform decision-makers.

Sample data chart from the Disability and Health Data System
Sample chart showing disability status and types among adults 18 years of age or older for the United States, DC & Territories—2016

You can use DHDS to answer questions such as

  • What is the percentage of adults with disabilities in each state?
  • What is the percentage of adults with select functional disability types in each state?
  • How does the percentage of adults with disabilities vary by age, sex, and race/ethnicity in each state?
  • How does the state percentage compare with the national percentage? With percentages in neighboring states?
  • Does the percentage of adults with key health indicators, such as obesity, physical activity and smoking vary across different functional disability types? Among adults with and without disabilities?

Resource‎

Spread the word

You can become an advocate for health by posting the DHDS button on your website, blog, or social networking site (e.g., Facebook page).

Download the image below to add to your site.

DHDS logo