March is National Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. The purpose is to help raise awareness about people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Developmental disability is a diverse group of chronic conditions that are due to mental or physical impairments before the age of 22. A developmental disability can occur before, during or after birth. Common well-known developmental disabilities include autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and Fragile X syndrome. Here are some facts and statistics on developmental disabilities.
- Developmental Disability is a severe, long-term disability that affect cognitive ability, physical functioning or both.
- 1 in 6 or about 15% of children aged 3 through 17 have one or more developmental disabilities.
- Between 2014 and 2016 the prevalence of developmental disability among kids ages 3 to 17 increased from 5.76 percent to 6.99 percent.
- Prevalence of autism increased 289.5%
- Prevalence of ADHD increased 33.0 %
- Males have a higher prevalence of ADHD, autism, learning disabilities, stuttering and other developmental disabilities.
- Children from families with incomes below the federal poverty level had a higher prevalence of developmental disabilities.
- 10% of Americans have a family member with an intellectual disability.
- Intellectual disabilities are 25 times more common than blindness.
- Every year 125,000 children are born with an intellectual disability
- Approximately 85% of the intellectual disability is in the mild category.
- About 10% of the intellectual disability is considered moderate
- About 3-4% of the intellectual disability population is severe.
- Only 1-2% is classified as profound.
Resources
Website: Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month Archives – The Arc