Youth and Disability Addendum

Our Regional Challenge

Disability

Definition: Defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a person who has a history or record of such an impairment, or a person who is perceived by others as having such an impairment.

Source:

Chicago Region

Definition: The Chicago region includes the Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, Will, and McHenry counties. All the information presented is based on the Chicago region, unless stated otherwise.

Opportunity Youth

Definition: Noninstitutionalized* youth aged 16 through 24 who are neither working nor in school (at the time of survey or during the previous year)

*Those who are primarily eligible, able, or likely to participate in the labor force and live in noninstitutionalized group quarters such as college/university student housing, military quarters, or other, i.e. emergency and transitional shelters for people experiencing homelessness and group homes.

Source: Congressional Research Service, Disconnected Youth: A Look at 16 to 24 Year Olds Who Are Not Working or In School, 2015

[The graph shown represents youth with disabilities aged 16-24 in the Chicago region]

Regional data

Source:U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey (ACS), One-Year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS); accessed via (20 June 2017)

Opportunity youth statistics

Source:U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey (ACS), One-Year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS); accessed via (20 June 2017)

Additional Statistics

  • 41,225 youth aged 16-24 have reported having a disability in the Chicagoland region. There are 90,620 children and youth aged 0-24 who have reported having a disability in the Chicagoland region.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey (ACS), One-Year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS); accessed via (20 June 2017)

  • 31% of youth with disabilities aged 16-24 in the Chicagoland region are neither in school or working. In comparison, only 10% of youth 16-24 without disabilities fit that description.

Source:U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey (ACS), One-Year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS); accessed via (20 June 2017)

  • 66% of youth with disabilities aged 16-24 have some form of mental health or learning disability.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey (ACS), One-Year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS); accessed via (20 June 2017)

  • The table below is data for youth with disabilities aged 16-24 in Chicagoland region (total number: 41,225). Percentage is portion of all persons with disabilities.

White / Black / Hispanic/Latino / Asian
Chicagoland / 57% / 29% / 21% / 2.5%
Chicago / 38% / 48% / 19% / 4%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey (ACS), One-Year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS); accessed via (20 June 2017)

Education System Failures

Increased Suspension Rates

Source: “School Data- Drop out and Suspension Rates 2016.” Chicago Public Schools, cps.edu/School Data/Pages/SchoolData.aspx.

Disproportionate Discipline

Source: Comstock-Galagan, J., & Brownstein, R. (n.d.). Stopping the schoolhouse to jailhouse pipeline by enforcing federal special education law. Montgomery, AL: Southern Poverty Law Center and Southern Disability Law Center. Retrieved from sites/default/files/legacy/images/dynamic/main/SpecialEducationLaw.pdf

Higher Dropout Rates

Source: “School Data- Drop out and Suspension Rates 2016.” Chicago Public Schools, cps.edu/School Data/Pages/SchoolData.aspx.

Low Education Attainment for Youth with Disabilities

Source: U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey (ACS), One-Year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS); accessed via (20 June 2017)

Educational Attainment

Definition: The highest level of education that an individual has completed as defined by the US Census Bureau.
Source:

Additional Statistics

  • 13.7%, or 52,000, Chicago Public School (CPS) students report having a disability.

Source: Chicago Public Schools (CPS) & Generation All Action Plan, Stronger Neighborhood High Schools for a Stronger Chicago, 2016

  • According to the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), only 15% of CPS 4th grade students with disabilities scored at or above “Basic” reading proficiency in 2003 and 2015 – making no progress at all during those years. In comparison, the percentage of CPS 4th grade general education students scoring at or above “Basic” reading proficiency rose from 40% to 58% during the same years.

Source: Report of the Mayor’s ADA 25 Literacy Task Force, Closing the Literacy Gap for Students with Disabilities, 2016

  • Only 4.3% of CPS students with IEPs in grades 3-8 reached proficiency in language arts on the state PARCC exam. Only 2% of CPS high school students with IEPs reached proficiency.

Source: Report of the Mayor’s ADA 25 Literacy Task Force, Closing the Literacy Gap for Students with Disabilities, 2016

  • Across the U.S., students with disabilities are suspended from school about 2x as often as their peers without disabilities.

Source: The Center for Civil Rights Remedies, Opportunities Suspended: The Disparate Impact of Disciplinary Exclusion from School, 2012

  • In the state of Illinois, nearly 42% of all African American students with disabilities were suspended at least once.

Source: The Center for Civil Rights Remedies, Opportunities Suspended: The Disparate Impact of Disciplinary Exclusion from School, 2012

  • Up to 85% of youth in juvenile detention facilities have disabilities that make them eligible for special education services - yet only 37% receive these services while in school. A disproportionate percentage of these detained youth are youth of color.

Source:

  • In 2015, CPS students with disabilities scored 10% less on their ACT than students without disabilities.

Source: “School Data- Demographics 2016.” Chicago Public Schools, cps.edu/School Data/Pages/SchoolData.aspx.

  • 22% of people with disabilities over 18 have not completed high school versus 12% of persons without disabilities in the Chicagoland region.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey (ACS), One-Year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS); accessed via (20 June 2017)

  • In CPS, the dropout rate for students with disabilities is 8.8% versus 6.5% in 2016.

Source: “School Data- Drop out and Suspension Rates 2016.” Chicago Public Schools, cps.edu/School Data/Pages/SchoolData.aspx.

  • In the 2015-2016 school year, students with disabilities,compared to students without disabilities, had the following suspension rates:
  • Out of school suspension rates per 100 students - 15.22 vs 8.08
  • In school suspension rates per 100 students - 21.46 vs 12.08

Source: “School Data- Drop out and Suspension Rates 2016.” Chicago Public Schools, cps.edu/School Data/Pages/SchoolData.aspx.

  • 30% of CPS students with disabilities are African American. African American students as a whole get in-school suspensions at 2x the rate of all students (24.22 per 100 students vs 12.08 per 100 students) and 12x their white counterparts (24.22 per 100 vs 2.53 per 100 students)

Source: “School Data- Drop out and Suspension Rates 2016.” Chicago Public Schools, cps.edu/School Data/Pages/SchoolData.aspx.

  • In Chicagoland, 8% of youth aged 16-24 have an associate’s degree or higher versus 16 % of youth in that age cohort.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey (ACS), One-Year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS); accessed via (20 June 2017)

  • In the 2013-14 school year, 14.2% of students in Illinois had an IEP, making it the 17th highest in the country.

Source: Common Core of Data, Tabulated from Elementary/Secondary Information System, 2015

  • 52% of youth aged18-22 are currently enrolled in school. Half of the students of transition age are still pursuing an education.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey (ACS), One-Year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS); accessed via (20 June 2017)

  • In the past 5 years, CPS has reported that the dropout rate of student with disabilities has decreased by 5%.

Source: “School Data- Drop out and Suspension Rates 2016.” Chicago Public Schools, cps.edu/School Data/Pages/SchoolData.aspx.

  • The table below is educational attainment for youth with disabilities aged 16-24.

Less than high school / High school / Associate's degree / Some college, no degree / Bachelor's degree / Post-grad
With Disabilities / 41.3% / 29.3% / 2.1% / 21.3% / 6% / 0%
Without Disabilities / 30.4% / 22.8% / 4.1% / 30.4% / 11.5% / 0.8%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey (ACS), One-Year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS); accessed via (20 June 2017)

Employment Gaps

Barriers to Employment

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Persons with a Disability: Barriers to Employment, Types of Assistance, and Other Labor-Related Issues, 2012

Lower Employment Rates for Youth with Disabilities
Source: U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey (ACS), One-Year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS); accessed via (20 June 2017)

Employment Rate

Definition: Calculated as the ratio of the employed to the working age population. The working age population refers to people aged 15 to 64.

Source:

  • Approximately 34% of disconnected youth in the U.S. reported that they had a disability; a large share of these individuals are people of color.

Source: Congressional Research Service, Disconnected Youth: A Look at 16 to 24 Year Olds Who Are Not Working or In School, 2015

  • In Chicago, the unemployment rate for African American 16-19 year olds was 88%. For Hispanics or Latinos, the rate was 85%.

Source: Great Cities Institute UIC, Lost: The Crisis Of Jobless and Out Of School Teens and Young Adults In Chicago, Illinois and the U.S., 2016

  • Average employment tenure for youth aged 16-24 is 1-year nationally.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey (ACS), One-Year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS); accessed via (20 June 2017)

  • Youth with disabilities aged 16-24 who are unemployed/not in the labor force are 20% closer to the poverty line than those who are employed.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey (ACS), One-Year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS); accessed via (20 June 2017)

  • 34% of households with youth aged 16-24 in the Chicagoland region are headed by single mothers.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey (ACS), One-Year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS); accessed via (20 June 2017)

  • People with disabilities are striving to work, as indicated by the 68.4% who are currently working, or looking for work, or have worked since the onset of disability.

Source: Kessler Foundation, 2015 National Employment and Disability Survey, 2015

  • The fact that people with disabilities are striving to work is demonstrated by other findings. Those who are currently employed are working an average of 35.5 hours per week. 40.6% want to work more hours. 60.7% want to work more than 40 hours per week.

Source: Kessler Foundation, 2015 National Employment and Disability Survey, 2015

  • Half of those with a disability who were not employed in May 2012 (that is, persons who were either unemployed or not in the labor force) reported at least one barrier to employment. When asked to identify barriers they had encountered, most reported that their own disability was a barrier to employment (80.5%). Other barriers cited included lack of education or training (14.1%), lack of transportation (11.7%), and the need for special features at the job (10.3%).

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Persons with a Disability: Barriers to Employment, Types of Assistance, and Other Labor-Related Issues, 2012

  • Among persons with a disability age 25 and over, 38.6% of persons with a college degree who were not employed reported a barrier to employment, compared with 52.9% of those with less than a high school diploma

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Persons with a Disability: Barriers to Employment, Types of Assistance, and Other Labor-Related Issues, 2012

•Table below is unemployment rates (unemployed and not in labor force) nationally for youth with disabilities aged 16-24 by race.

White / Black / Hispanic/Latino / Asian
National / 74% / 75% / 66% / 50%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey (ACS), One-Year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS); accessed via (20 June 2017)

  • Table below is unemployment rates for youth aged 16-24 by race.

White / Black / Hispanic/Latino / Asian
People w/ Disabilities / People w/o Disabilities / People w/ Disabilities / People w/o Disabilities / People w/ Disabilities / People w/o Disabilities / People w/ Disabilities / People w/o Disabilities
Chicago region / 70% / 49% / 86% / 44% / 66% / 50% / 64% / 37%
Chicago / 73% / 45% / 86% / 69% / 71% / 53% / 100% / 61%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey (ACS), One-Year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS); accessed via (20 June 2017)

Justice Inequities

Higher Rates of Incarceration

Source: U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey (ACS), One-Year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS); accessed via (20 June 2017)

Higher Rates of Recidivism

Source: Baltodano, H. M., Mathur, S. R., & Rutherford, R. B., Transition of incarcerated youth with disabilities across systems and into adulthood, 2005

Recidivism

Definition: A person's relapse into criminal behavior, often after the person receives sanctions or undergoes intervention for a previous crime. Recidivism is measured by criminal acts that resulted in rearrest, reconviction or return to prison with or without a new sentence during a three-year period following the prisoner's release.

Source:

Victims of Violence

Source: Ruderman Family Foundation, The Ruderman White Paper on Media Coverage of Law Enforcement Use of Force and Disability, 2016

Additional Statistics

  • Incarcerated persons are at least 3x as likely to report having a disability as the non-incarcerated population – those in jails are 4x more likely.

Source: Center for American Progress, Disabled Behind Bars: The Mass Incarceration of People With Disabilities in America’s Jails and Prisons, 2016

  • 1 in 5 prison inmates have a serious mental health conditions.

Source: Center for American Progress, Disabled Behind Bars: The Mass Incarceration of People With Disabilities in America’s Jails and Prisons, 2016

  • Federal and state jails and prisons are now home to 3x as many people with mental health conditions as state mental hospitals.

Source: Center for American Progress, Disabled Behind Bars: The Mass Incarceration of People With Disabilities in America’s Jails and Prisons, 2016

  • Approximately 29% of inmates at Cook County Jail self-report as having a mental health condition.

Source:

  • People with disabilities are also especially likely to be the victims of police violence. One-quarter of the individuals shot to death by police officers in 2015 were people with mental health conditions.

Source: Center for American Progress, Disabled Behind Bars: The Mass Incarceration of People With Disabilities in America’s Jails and Prisons, 2016

  • 73% of incarcerated youth with disabilities in institutional group quarters are male and 27% are female.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey (ACS), One-Year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS); accessed via (20 June 2017)

  • Nationally, the average sentence length for youth under 20 is 3 years.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics

  • According to a 2010 survey, less than one-half (46%) of youth with a diagnosed learning disability report participating in a special education program while in custody.

Source: “The Condition of Education - Participation in Education - Elementary/Secondary - Children and Youth With Disabilities.” National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, May 2017, nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cgg.asp.

Methodology and Accuracy of American Community Survey (ASC) Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS): Bureau, US Census. “American Community Survey

(ACS).” PUMS Technical Documentation, United States Census Bureau, census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/technical-documentation/pums/documentation.html.

Last Updated: 10/19/17 Page 1 of 9