Colleagues, please see the below message that is really important for us to consider. Penny L. Penny Rosenblum, Ph.D. Owner, Vision for Independence, LLC Consultant for Project INSPIRE<https://www.pathstoliteracy.org/resources/project-inspire-free-self-paced-courses-increase-stem-potential-individuals-who-read> Research Professor Emerita, University of Arizona Email: rosenblu@arizona.edu<mailto:rosenblu@arizona.edu> From: Bonnie Swenor <bswenor@jhmi.edu> Sent: Monday, October 30, 2023 5:10 AM To: disabilityhealth <disabilityhealth@jhu.edu> Cc: Scott D Landes <sdlandes@syr.edu> Subject: [EXT]Census efforts will reduce national estimates of disability: Call for action External Email Colleagues, The U.S. Census is changing the way disability data is collected, which will reduce national prevalence estimates of disability from 14% to 8%. These changes have moved forward without the input of the disability community and have far-reaching, negative implications for disabled people. As disabled scholars and scholars of disability data, we are also concerned with the limited empirical evidence to support these changes to the Census disability data methodology. Along with colleagues, we recently sent a letter<https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uRl44YwDpR0u1tvTw4u6Fcp9Lx5iP-3B/view?usp=sharing> to the Director of the U.S. Census, Robert Santo, as well as other leaders across the federal government outlining our concerns and requests. We are asking the Census to stop efforts aimed at changing disability data collection. We urge you to share your perspective and: * Submit a public comment to the upcoming Census National Advisory Committee Meeting<https://www.census.gov/about/cac/nac/meetings/2023-11-meeting.html> * Respond to the current Federal Register request for comment<https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/10/20/2023-23249/agency-information-collection-activities-submission-to-the-office-of-management-and-budget-omb-for> We are also asking the Census to: * Make a plan to improve the inclusion of disabled people across the activities of the U.S. Census Bureau. * Support forming a National Taskforce on Disability Data to improve and expand disability data collections at the U.S. Census and across the federal government. Please share this information with your networks! Bonnielin Swenor, PhD, MPH Professor of Disability Health and Justice | Johns Hopkins School of Nursing Director | Johns Hopkins Disability Health Research Center Scott D. Landes, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Sociology and O'Hanley Faculty Scholar Aging Studies Institute Faculty Associate Center for Aging and Policy Studies Research Affiliate Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion Senior Research Associate