Demographic Profile of Senior in Wayne County, Michigan

Table 27 provides data on the total number of yes responses gathered from persons 65
years of age and over in Region 1-A. Table 28 allows for the isolation of persons
reporting single and multiple disabilities.
Table 27. Disability Status of the Population 65+ by Sector, 2000
Sectors
Total
disabilities
tallied
Percent Reporting by Type of Disability
Sensory Physical Mental Self-care Go-outsidehome
1 11,540 12.9 33.7 13.3 13.3 26.8
2 6,303 13.1 34.3 11.7 13.2 27.7
3 16,741 13.1 33.1 13.8 14.6 25.4
4 11,698 13.1 34.4 12.0 14.5 25.9
5 9,173 12.9 34.9 13.6 12.6 25.9
6 15,279 12.9 33.5 13.5 14.0 26.1
7 10,931 13.6 33.5 11.8 12.2 28.9
8 6,555 13.1 35.3 13.1 12.9 25.7
9 10,374 13.5 33.6 12.2 14.1 26.6
10 9,020 10.5 34.0 13.6 13.0 29.0
11 6,114 12.0 33.8 14.0 14.6 25.7
12 6,581 15.9 34.5 11.6 12.7 25.3
While the number of responses varied across the sectors, the general pattern of responses
is quite similar. The disability most often acknowledged, representing 1/3 of responses in
each sector, was physical. This was followed by a limitation for going outside the home
– representing ¼ of all responses in each sector. Sensory, self-care and mobility
disabilities were each mentioned in the order of 10-15 percent of the time.
A more detailed look at the responses given to the disability questions allows for a better
understanding of the health conditions of seniors across the 12 sectors.
One might expect from the household structure and income level that seniors in Sector 12
would show themselves to be the healthiest in Region 1-A. The data in Table 28 show
this to indeed be the case, as more than 2/3 of seniors reported no disability. This was 16
percent higher than the next closest – Sector 10. In addition, when disabilities were
reported, Sector 12 residents were more likely to list only one disability as opposed to
multiples. Elderly residents of Sectors 3, 4 and 11 reported the highest share of persons
having at least one disability, and led all others in the share of seniors listing multiple
disabilities. These results also track with the higher levels of poverty and living alone
that were reported previously for these sectors.
I all sectors, persons responding with only one disability were most likely to identify it as
physical or related to going outside the home. Another common thread across the vast
majority of the sectors was the higher percentage of persons with multiple disabilities not
including self-care as one of them.
A Demographic Profile of Seniors in PSA 1-A 254