The 28.7% headline
Line-by-line
| Category | Share of US adults | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Cognition | 13.9% | Serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions |
| Mobility | 12.2% | Serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs |
| Independent Living | 7.7% | Difficulty doing errands alone |
| Hearing | 6.2% | Deafness or serious difficulty hearing |
| Vision | 5.5% | Blindness or serious difficulty seeing |
| Self-Care | 3.6% | Difficulty dressing or bathing |
Fair housing implications
Disability is federally + CA protected
FHA §3604(f) covers disability at the federal level. California's FEHA is broader — it covers mental health conditions and medical conditions that sit below the federal "substantial limitation" threshold.
Invisible disabilities = #1 source of unintentional disparate treatment
Cognitive disability is a bigger category than mobility. Most are invisible — meaning agents and landlords don't know a protected class is in the room, and process violations go unnoticed until a complaint is filed.
Assistance animals are NOT pets
No breed restrictions, no size limits, no pet deposit. This is the most-sued area of fair housing in 2024-25. Screening protocol and documentation standards matter more here than almost anywhere else.
Reasonable accommodation vs modification
Accommodation = a change to a policy, practice, or service. Modification = a physical change to the unit. In California, modifications are often landlord-paid if the rental is publicly funded.
This is the most underestimated number in Oscar's deck. 28.7% is a bigger share than any ethnic group on any of his other slides. Every transaction has a disability dimension somewhere.
Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.