1986 ICD Survey of Disabled Americans: Bringing Disabled Americans into the Mainstream
Investigators: International Center for the Disabled

Louis Harris and Associates, Inc. conducted the 1986 ICD Survey of Disabled Americans: Bringing Disabled Americans into the Mainstream for the International Center for the Disabled (ICD), in cooperation with the National Council on the Handicapped. This survey was the first major national study of attitudes and experiences of disabled persons. This survey was also the first to ask disabled people nationwide about their self-perceptions, how their lives have changed in the past decade, what their experiences have been with employment, education, social life, and what they thought must be done to increase their participation in the mainstream of American Society.

The survey addressed what it means to be disabled in America by asking a wide range of disabled individuals about the impact of disability on the quality of their lives, their work, social life, daily activities, education, and personal life. The survey also focused on barriers that prevented disabled people from working, having a full social life, getting around, or using services; i.e., barriers which excluded them in some way from the mainstream of American life, or prevented them from achieving their goals. The study includes 373 variables for 1,000 cases.