The U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday halted plans to change how it asks people about disabilities after facing a growing backlash. Supporters of the proposed changes said the revisions would have provided more nuanced data and given officials better details about disabilities that can inform how services or resources are provided. In a test run, the percentage of respondents who were defined as having a disability went from 13.9% using the current questions to 8.1% under the proposed changes. The proposed changes to the disability questions were among several tweaks to the American Community Survey that the Census Bureau was planning to submit this year for approval to the Office of Management and Budget. As part of that process, the Census Bureau solicited public feedback and got more than 12,000 responses, with the majority expressing concerns about changes to the disability questions.

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Persons: ”, Scott Landes, “, Robert Santos, ” Santos, Bonnielin Swenor, Mike Schneider Organizations: Census, Survey, Syracuse University, American, American Community Survey, Bureau, Management, Johns Hopkins Disability Health Research Center