1. TITLE:National Organization on Disability/Harris Survey, Life Satisfaction, Socializing and Religion, June 10, 2004, www.nod.org/pdffiles/harris2004/harris2004_data.pdf
2. Project Manager: Kristina Hanson (Katherine Cargill-Willis 8/31/04)
3. Introduction and Kathy’s note: "Progress is too slow, and the gaps are still too large," said National Organization on Disability President Alan A. Reich. "Looking back four years, or ten years, to our earlier N.O.D./Harris surveys, we see Americans with disabilities heading in the right direction. But people with disabilities remain pervasively disadvantaged. Our goal of full participation is a dream deferred." The new survey, conducted by research group Harris Interactive, tallied responses from more than 2,000 phone and online interviews. Margin of error is 3 percentage points. The survey, administered to both people with disabilities and those without, examines eight aspects of life. I have decided to break down the survey into seven two-page reports.
• Life Satisfaction, Socializing, and Religion
• Employment
• Health Care
• Assistive Technology
• Disability Issues
• Personal Assistance
• Demographics
4. Life Satisfaction: When asked, "What are the most important things in their lives," both the majority of people with disabilities and the majority of those without said "family," 62% of people with disabilities and 67% of people without. Health was the second most important for both groups, 31% for people with disabilities and 23% for those without. Education came in third, but people with disabilities thought it was less important than those without, 3% for those with disabilities and 5% for those without.

When asked, "How satisfied are you with your life," only 34% of people with disabilities said "very satisfied", while 61% of people without disabilities gave the same response. Forty percent of people with disabilities said they were "somewhat satisfied," while 32% of those without disabilities said the same thing. Six times as many people with disabilities said they were "very dissatisfied" with life than those without disabilities (6% versus 1%)

When asked, "If life would get better or worse over the next four years," 43% of people with disabilities said life will get better compared to 75% of those without. Conversely 41% of those with disabilities stated life would get worse, compared with only 12% of those without.

When asked, "How they would rate their general health," only six percent of people with disabilities replied "excellent" versus 22% of people without; 32% of people with disabilities said fair, versus 10% of those without; and 23% of those with disabilities said their health was poor compared to only one percent of those without disabilities who said their health was poor.

5. Transportation: When asked if, "Transportation is a major problem, a minor problem, or not a problem for you," 17% of people with disabilities said transportation was a major problem, compared to 5% of people without. It was a minor problem for 14% of those with disabilities, compared to 8% of those without. Finally 69% of people with disabilities said transportation was not a problem, while 86% of those without disabilities said it was not a problem.
6. Socialization: When asked how often they participated in certain activities, the responses of people with disabilities and those without were quite close. Sixty percent of those with disabilities socialize with family, friends or neighbors more than four times a month, while 70% of people without disabilities do. On the other side of the spectrum, 4% of those with disabilities never socialized, compared to 1% of those without.

Twenty-seven percent of people with disabilities went to a restaurant more than four times a month, compared to 29% of those without. At the other end, 16% of those with disabilities went to a restaurant less than once a month, while only 8% of those without disabilities went to a restaurant less than once a month.

7. Religion: When asked, "How often they attend a church, synagogue or another place of worship," 28% of people with disabilities went to a place of worship more than four times a month while 31% without disabilities went more than four times a month. Conversely, 17% of people with disabilities went to a place of worship less than once a month, while 20% of those without disabilities went fewer than once a month.

When asked, "How important is your religious faith to you," the responses were almost identical. Fifty-seven percent of all respondents said religion was very important and 27% of all respondents said religion was somewhat important.

Seven percent of those with disabilities said religion was not very important, while 8% of those without disabilities had the same response. Finally 8% of those with disabilities said religion was not important at all, while only 6% of those without disabilities stated religion was not important.

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