By Neil Shah Nearly a third of Americans getting government
assistance say they are disabled, new research shows. The U.S.
Census Bureau on Tuesday said roughly 46 million Americans — 20%
of the U.S. population not in places like prison, nursing homes
or the army — got some kind of government assistance in 2011. Of
these 46 million people, 30.4% reported being disabled in one or
more ways. Almost 20% of beneficiaries of programs like the
Supplemental Security Income and Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (a.k.a. food stamps) had major difficulty
walking or climbing stairs, while around 15% had difficulty
going outside the home to shop or visit a doctor’s office.
Fourteen percent had trouble with memory, concentration and
making decisions. The Census report is the first of its kind,
making past comparisons difficult. Changes in how the government
collects data on different social-assistance programs in recent
years also make comparisons invalid. Still, a glance at
disability rates among recipients of sp