The Social Security Administration (SSA) sponsored 7 new disability questions starting in the 2021 SIPP. The SSA Disability content is intended to capture aspects of disability that are not captured in SIPP’s main Disability section. Many of the new SSA questions appeared in the 2014 SIPP SSA Supplement and in topical modules in the SIPP 2008 Panel.

The SSA Disability section includes three questions asked of those aged 15 and over about functional limitations, including difficulty sitting (ESITD), difficulty lifting (EDIF10), and difficulty grasping (EGRASPD); one question asked of those aged 5 and over about learning or developmental disability (ELEARNDIS); one question asked of those aged 5 and over about mental or emotional conditions (EMENTDIS); and one question asked of those aged 5 and over about health conditions lasting 12 months or longer that limit activities (EHLTHCOND).

In addition, all respondents aged 5 and over who had a value of 1 (“yes”) for a previous question in the main Disability section and/or in the SSA Disability section were asked to report the condition(s) that cause(s) difficulty with activities. Respondents could report up to 3 conditions and answers were used to construct 3 sets of condition recode variables: RCONDBRIDGE(1-3), RCONDTYP(1-3), RCONDSUBTYP(1-3).

Notably, answers to the SSA Disability questions are NOT used in the construction of the standard summary measure of disability (RDIS) in 2021 SIPP, nor are they used in the construction of the alternative summary measure of disability (RDIS_ALT). As such, RDIS and RDIS_ALT in 2021 SIPP are comparable to RDIS and RDIS_ALT in 2018-2020 SIPP.

More information about the summary measures of disability (RDIS and RDIS_ALT) and the condition recode variables (RCONDBRIDGE(1-3), RCONDTYP(1-3), and RCONDSUBTYP(1-3)) is available in the Disability section of the 2021 SIPP Users’ Guide at https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/sipp/tech-documentation/methodology/2021_SIPP_Users_Guide.pdf.