Section 4: Living arrangements, family life, and medical experiences

The previous section presented data on the topics of gender, disability and work. Much less information, however, is regularly collected on a national level about other important issues that affect the lives of adult women with disabilities. Section 4 examines a number of topics related to women's participation in families, including marital status and parenting. Experiences related to the medical system are also included. The information included in this section is based on large, national surveys. For many related topics, no large federal-level survey data are available and data from smaller surveys cannot be generalized to the population as a whole. Therefore, many gaps exist in research on adult women with disabilities, and some of these research gaps are described in Section 7 of this chartbook. More research is needed on these and other barriers to the full participation of women with disabilities in society, community and family life.

Topic Questions:

Jans, L., & Stoddard, S. (1999). Chartbook on Women and Disability in the United States. An InfoUse Report. Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research.