AADMD
Reporting the Evolving and Increasing U.S. Population With Disabilities
I
n the past, except for an aged grandparent, individuals with disabilities “did not exist.” They were sequestered in outof-town institutions or in backrooms of homes. Health professionals had little to no formal educational experiences to provide needed services for these individuals. Change began in the final decades of the last century. Geraldo Rivera’s 1972 report on “the horrors” in Willowbrook State School in New York State for individuals with mental and physical disabilities became the national catalyst to awaken the public to the desperate needs for change.1 The eventual increasing awareness of the numbers of youngsters and the not-so-young with disabilities filled professional journals and the general 20 | HELEN • helenjournal.org
By H. Barry Waldman, DDS, MPH, PhD Steven P. Perlman, DDS, MScD, DHL (Hon), Rick Rader, MD, FAAIDD, FAADM Allen Wong, DDS, EdD, DABSCD
public literature. Movies, television and clinical experiences for the care of and computer reports now provide a individuals with disabilities.2 staggering reign of information about The task is how to compact and the growing population of individuals highlight specific information to with disabilities and their needs. Nevensure an awareness of the needed ertheless, the health profession schools services for the increasing numbers of did not adopt formal requirements for individuals with many disabilities who preparing the next generation of health live in our communities. providers to care for individuals with An estimated 3.5 percent of people disabilities. with disabilities live in institutional For example, it was only by a Table 1 nefarious act by one Civilian population with disabilities: 2010-2020 3 of the writers of this paper (HBW), Total U.S. Population that U.S. dental population with disabilities Proportion and dental hygiene 2010 308,291,000 38,463,000 12.5% schools are now 2015 320,399,000 42,050,000 13.1% required for accred2020 328,294,000 44,862,000* 13.4% itation purposes to provide didactic * Living in the community
