Florida accessibility code for building construction review and recommendations
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- United States Florida West Virginia Utah
- Percent Disabled
- Type of Disability Population above 5 years Percentage of Total Disability
- United States Florida West Virginia Alaska
- Percent Over 65
5.3.Demographic DifferencesIt is important to understand how the demographics vary at the state and national level in order to assess if the requirements of the Florida Accessibility Code for Building Construction need to be more stringent than the national requirements of the ADA Standards for Accessible Design. The percentage of the population with disabilities and the population of elderly will influence the necessity for certain accessibility requirements. Individual states having a prevalence of disabled and elderly compared to the United States as a whole may desire to have more stringent laws. The American Community Survey (ACS) is an on-going survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and defines a disability as anyone of the following conditions: hearing difficulty, vision difficulty, cognitive difficulty, ambulatory difficulty, self-care difficulty, or independent living difficulty. The questions used in the ACS for disability are shown in Figure 1 below. In 2012 approximately 12.2% of the 309 million people in the United States had a disability, while 12.9% of the 19 million people in Florida had a disability, as shown in Table 1. Florida was ranked 19 out of 51 states, with 1 being the highest percentage of disabled population and 51 being the lowest. West Virginia and Utah were ranked 1 and 51 in the US, respectively, and both have adopted the ADA Standards for Accessible Design. 
Figure : Disability Questions used in the American Community Survey Table : Percentage of Disabled Population Compared to US in 2012 (ACS 2012)
A breakdown of the various types of disability will help to determine what type of accessibility requirements are most needed. Table 2 shows the number of people in Florida with each type of disability and the percentage of each specific disability to the total number of people with disabilities. Keep in mind that some people may have more than one type of disability, which is why the percentages don’t total to 100%. Table : Types of Disabilities in Florida (ACS 2012)
There is a discrepancy of approximately 600,000 less disabled people in Florida in the 2012 ACS data as compared with the 1990 Decennial Census survey. The 1990 Decennial Survey reported 3 million disabled persons out of a total state population of 13 million, or 30%. The current disabled population in Florida reported by the ACS in 2012 is 2.4 million out of a total population of 19 million, or 13%. The University of Florida could not determine whether this is a statistical aberration or the ACS has excluded a portion of disabled populations for their survey. It is possible that the numbers are skewed by the people who claim residency in other states but who spend the winter months in Florida or by wounded warriors that may not have been included in the survey but have since returned to Florida. There are many possibilities as to why there is a discrepancy but after researching other sources for demographics data the University of Florida has determined that the American Community Survey is the most accurate and useful for this report. Comparing the state of Florida’s disability statistics to the national averages alone indicates that Florida should not need more stringent accessibility requirements, considering Florida’s percentage of disabled is very close to the national level. However, it is important to also examine the percentage of elderly in Florida compared to the national level. Roughly half of people in Florida with a disability are above the age of 65 (US Census Bureau), which corroborates common knowledge that there is a large correlation between disability and age. The U.S. Census Bureau’s Population Estimates Program (PEP) produces annual estimates of the population for the United States and each of its states, including Puerto Rico. According to the 2012 PEP estimates the percentage of the U.S. population above the age of 65 was 13.7%, compared to 18.2% in Florida. Florida had the highest percentage of people over the age of 65, with West Virginia having the second highest and Alaska having the lowest. Table : State Percentages of Population over Age 65 Compared to US in 2012 (PEP 2012)
Figure 2 shows a side-by-side comparison of the percentage of elderly and disabled for a select number of states. These are the states with the highest and lowest percentages of elderly and disabled populations. Although the percentages are from two different surveys and should not be compared directly, it can be used to see which states have a higher or lower number of both elderly and disabled populations. It is important to note that West Virginia had a very high percentage for both disabled and elderly populations, as shown in Figure 2. Figure 2: Percentage of Disabled (ACS) and Elderly Populations (PEP) in 2012 Not only is there currently a large percentage of elderly in Florida, but this number is continuing to grow. It is anticipated that the number of Americans aged 65 and older will be doubled by 2050 (US Census Bureau). The rapid aging of the U.S. population is being driven by two factors: Americans are living longer lives than in previous decades and, given the baby boom after World War II, there are proportionately more older adults than in previous generations. Mobility, defined as the ability to move around effectively and safely in the environment, is fundamental to the health and well-being of older adults (Center for Disease Control and Prevention 2013). Types of mobility includes being able to transfer from a bed to a chair, walking for leisure and completion of daily tasks, engaging in other activities associated with work and play, exercising, driving a car, and using other forms of passenger transport. With increases in medical technology, the elderly populations, as well as some of the disabled population below age 65, are becoming more independent and able to be mobile without the assistance of a caregiver. Directory: fbc -> commission fbc -> Florida Supplement to the 2015 ibc chapters 1-35 icc edit version note 1 commission -> Understanding the Combination afci expansion in nec-2008 fbc -> Florida Supplement to the 2012 iecc post-glitch correction version note 1 Download 352.62 Kb. Share with your friends:
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