CENSUS 2000: Individuals With Disabilities
Accuracy is Critical in 2000

Individuals with disabilities will lose out if the 2000 Census is inaccurate. Census data is information used by educators, policy makers, and community leaders and directly affect funding for many programs critical to individuals with disabilities including programs for health care, transportation, employment training, and housing. Federal, state, and county governments use Census information to guide the annual distribution of $180 billion dollars in critical services.

Census information is:

• Used by state and county agencies to plan for eligible  recipients under theMedicare, Medicaid, and Supplemental Security Incomeprograms;
• Used to distribute funds and develop programs for people with disabilities and the elderly under the Rehabilitation Act;
• Required under the Housing and Urban Development Act to distribute funds for housing for people with disabilities;
• Used to allocate funds to states and local areas for employment and job training programs for veterans under the Job Training Partnership Act, disabled Veterans Outreach Programs;
• Needed under the Americans with Disabilities Act to ensure that comparable public transportation services are available for all segments of the population;
• Required to award federal grants, under the Older Americans Act, based on the number of elderly people with physical and mental disabilities;
• Used to allocate funds for mass transit systems to provide facilities for disabled persons under the Federal Transit Act;
• Used under the Disabled Veterans Outreach Program for a collection of job development services for disabled veterans including counseling, job training and placement services
• Used under the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program to provide housing assistance and supportive services for low-income persons with HIV/AIDS and their families; and,
• Needed for Special Education Preschool Grants that make available special education for children ages 3 through 5.