The Prevalence and Impact of Disability Among Healthcare Executives

Supplement to Healthcare Executive, November/December 2006

by Wayne M. Lerner, DPH, FACHE; Peter A. Weil, PhD, FACHE; and Kristi L. Kirschner, MD

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According to a sample survey of more than 829,000 households conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2003, 6.3 percent of noninstitutionalized workers had a disability . What is the extent of disability among ACHE affiliates? To answer this question, ACHE, in collaboration with the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, sent a four-page fax questionnaire in fall 2005 to a random sample of ACHE affiliates.

We identified two criteria to establish whether an affiliate had a disability:

1. Does the respondent have a condition that limits full participation in work?


2. Does he or she have a learning, emotional or mental disability or disease; a sensory impairment; a physical handicap; pain; or chronic fatigue syndrome?

These criteria are similar to those the U.S. Census Bureau uses to define a disability.

The following appendixes are supplements to “The Prevalence and Impact of Disability Among Healthcare Executives,” published in the November/December 2006 issue of Healthcare Executive.

Appendix A: About the Survey

To determine the approximate proportion of healthcare executives with a disability, a random sample of ACHE’s active affiliates was selected. Initially, 2,000 affiliates were chosen; faxes sent to 270 individuals were unsuccessfully transmitted, leaving 1,730 affiliates in the final sample. It had been previously determined that the most cost-effective and expeditious method of administration would be via fax.

Of the 1,730 affiliates who were sent faxes in mid-September 2005 and again in early October to nonrespondents, 832 responded, yielding a 48 percent response rate. A nonresponse analysis was conducted to determine if nonrespondents were demographically different from respondents to the survey. The analysis showed that respondents were no different from nonrespondents in the level of position they held or in gender. However, a higher proportion of Fellows (60 percent) than Members (43 percent) responded.

Appendix B: Data Tables

Number sampled:	1,730
Number received:	832
Response rate:	48%
Date faxed:	September 15, 2005
Second fax:	October 3, 2005

Note: Of the 832 healthcare executives who responded to the survey, 63, or 7.6 percent, indicated an affirmative response to one of the items in Questions 1 and/or 2 below. The percentages presented in the tables below are based on the 63 individuals who indicated they had some disability.

1. Does a disability currently keep you from participating fully in work, that is, to the same extent as your peers?

2. Please indicate whether or not you have any of the following:

3. Please enter the name or nature of your disabilities:

4. Would you say your disability is:

5. Does your disability affect you:

6. At what age did your disability begin?

• Median 34
• Mean 32
• [25th percentile = 20; 75th percentile = 45]

7. In column 1 please circle which of the following best describes your current employment situation. In column 2 please circle which best describes your current preferred employment situation.

8. If you are not currently in your most preferred employment situation, please indicate the main reason(s) by circling the response codes below.

9. Do you feel that you have ever encountered job discrimination because of your disability?

11. In general, how would you characterize your health?

12. Number who ever use:

13. To what extent do you feel that you have a sense of common identity with other people with disabilities?

14. Do you feel that your disability has prevented you from reaching what you feel is your full potential as a person?

15. Finally, on the lines below, please tell us what the healthcare management profession needs to do to ensure equitable treatment of its members with disabilities.

Appendix C: List of Disabilities That Prevent Full Participation at Work

Following is a list of the specific disability that was associated with those who indicated that a disability currently keeps them from participating fully in work, that is, to the same extent as their peers.

1. Corneas are dying
2. Coronary artery disease (two myocardial infarctions, three coronary stents); clinical depression; cancer
3. Manic depression
4. HIV/AIDS
5. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
6. Severe hearing loss due to military combat service
7. Degenerated hip/joint replacement
8. Bell’s palsy
9. Complete loss of hearing in one ear; partial in the other
10. Chronic low back issues
11. Degenerative disc causing severe back pain, sometimes leg pain
12. Chronic pain due to Lyme disease

Appendix D: Age Distribution of Respondents by Type of Disability