Fact · Accessibility and health
8.2percent
In the 2010 Survey of Income and Program Participation, 8.2 percent of US people aged 15 and older, about 19.9 million people, had difficulty with physical tasks for the upper body, including lifting and grasping.
Quote found word for word on the live source, last checked October 19, 2026
In the source's own words
“Approximately 19.9 million people 15 years and older (8.2 percent) had difficulty with physical tasks relating to upper body function- ing, including difficulty lifting and grasping”
Americans with Disabilities: 2010 (P70-131), U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau, 2012, Selected physical tasks, text.
Open the original- What it measures
- The Census Bureau groups lifting and grasping as upper body tasks. These are the physical actions that a keyboard or pen relies on.
- What it does not show
- Self-reported in a survey, for 2010 only. This is a combined measure of lifting and grasping, not a count of people who cannot type, and it counts people with any difficulty, not only severe difficulty.
In the data
A row of Disability Statistics: Conditions That Make Typing Hard, as Census 2010, lifting or grasping, 15+: 8.2 percent.
- Condition
- Dexterity or motor disability
- Who
- US people aged 15 and older
- Country
- United States
- How measured
- Self-reported
- Year
- 2010