Disability & Health Data

Disability data helps us understand the Disability community. Expanding and improving the collection, reporting and analysis of standardized disability data across health systems is vital to understand and improve the current health status and outcomes of people with disabilities for public health planning and equitable allocation of resources.

The American Community Survey (ACS) has six Yes or No questions that assess functioning, called ACS-6.   A "yes" response to any of these questions indicates a disability for the purposes of the ACS.  The ACS-6 can be used to assess disability as a core demographic element.

  1. Are you deaf, or do you have serious difficulty hearing?
  2. Are you blind, or do you have serious difficulty seeing, even when wearing glasses? 
  3. Because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition, do you have serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions?  (5 years old or older)
  4. Do you have serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs?  (5 years old or older) 
  5. Do you have difficulty dressing or bathing?  (5 years old or older) 
  6. Because of a physical, mental or emotional condition, do you have difficulty doing errands alone such as visiting a doctor’s office or shopping? (15 years old or older)

Disability and Health in Montana  

  • Top three health concerns among Montana Medicaid enrollees with disability poster 

American Indian collaboration with the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council  

Falls Prevention with the Montana Falls Prevention Program  

Montana Diabetes Program  

Behavioral Health  

County Level Profiles Available 

  • Dawson County 
  • Missoula County 
  • Silver Bow County 
  • Yellowstone County

To request a county profile, contact: Dyani Bingham, MTDH Program Evaluator at Dyani.Bingham@mt.gov  

  • MTDH Data Resource Assessment (Coming soon!)

Journal Articles 

  • Jones, M. G., Clarke, P. J., Meshesha, H. S., Mulhorn, K. A., Traci, M. A., & Nieuwenhuijsen, E. R. (2024). COVID-19, disability, and the international classification of functioning, disability and health: a scoping review of early-stage pandemic response. AJPM focus, 3(1), 100152. 
  • O’Connell, D. A., Cichon, B., Kern, N., Purinton, M., Traci, M., & Stephens, M. (2025). Toward a Disability Affirming Model of Medicine in the United States and Beyond. Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 1-9. 
  • DiSipio, M., Goldschmidt, J., Lewis, C., McGinley, J., Morris, M., Peterson, L., ... & Turner Wilson, J. (2025). Social Determinants of Health Strand: Recommendations of the National Goals on Health Equity Working Meeting. Inclusion, 13(3), 222-228.