Disability committee eyes new community census to identify service needs

Local disability advocates appear ready to ask the city to conduct a census or general accounting of the number of local residents with disabilities who may require city services beyond those currently offered locally.

Earlier this month, the Mayor’s Committee for People with Disabilities discussed the need for data on disabled people living locally, with the reasoning that city leaders need to know how many people could need or benefit from improved resources and services at all levels. Because the item was listed only for discussion, no action was taken, though Committee Member Elizabeth Meyer said an action item to allow for the creation of a census working group could appear on next month’s agenda.

Committee Member Adrianne Hogan said a recent joint meeting with the Commission on Aging showed how the needs of seniors are tended to more diligently because of the readily available information about the city’s older population.

“My rationale for this particular item was that it would be difficult to measure need unless the city had an idea of the numbers of its citizens who are experiencing either permanent life challenges or temporary or newly acquired life challenges,” she said. “If measurement is part of apportioning or allocating funds, then a new census looking at that might be one way of ensuring that’s a priority.”

Committee Member Kristen Vassallo said the city might have an easier time conducting an overall accounting of local disability needs using state and federal filings for disability assistance, but she said suggestions of using live events and point-in-time counts could be useful as well.

“That is an amazing idea and I’m sure they could look at different (Supplemental Security Income) records perhaps or other disability records. I don’t know exactly how to do it, but I think it would surely focus a need for the community,” she said. “We could look at having some community meetings with people that represent larger groups. I’m not sure about putting it on a particular department so that they can come up with ideas, too.”

Committee Member Pete Salazar said the city’s Commission on Veterans Affairs previously used special events to bring veterans together to help determine the level of need in that community, with the data helpful for making budget recommendations to Council.

“As we’re planning out what our goals are in the near future … that could be something that we do as a commission,” he said “We were encouraged to host a variety of events to do that point-in-time count for these numbers.”

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