July 31, 2024 — The U.S. Census Bureau today announced plans to meet with disability community stakeholders September 30 in the D.C. metro area to better understand challenges in data availability and access for their community.  

In February, Census Bureau Director Robert Santos announced initial plans for this meeting based on feedback in response to a Federal Register notice outlining proposed changes to the American Community Survey (ACS). An overall theme in the more than 12,000 comments was a desire for more comprehensive engagement. Santos also announced that, based on the feedback, there would be no changes to the disability questions for the 2025 ACS.

The Census Bureau is hosting the meeting with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the National Center for Health Statistics, the National Council on Disability, The Leadership Conference Education Fund, and the Consortium for Constituents with Disabilities’ Health Task Force. The meeting will bring together federal agency staff, disability stakeholders and community representatives, data users and disability advocates.

The Census Bureau appreciates the public’s interest in the ACS program and feedback on the most recent proposed changes. We are committed to engaging stakeholders and are working closely with our co-sponsors to ensure this convening provides meaningful engagement and is fully inclusive and accessible. The proceedings will help inform the collection of disability information for future ACS iterations as well as for the broader federal community.

We will share details about the meeting location and registration soon. For general information, contact census.partners@census.gov. Members of the media should contact the Public Information Office at pio@census.gov.

Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) and American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation will be provided. If you have any other access needs, please contact census.partners@census.gov.  

Visit Federal Register notice Federal Evidence Agenda on Disability Equity to learn about the development of the Federal Evidence Agenda on Disability Equity.

No news release associated with this announcement. Tip sheet only.

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