11 minutes
Five kinds of disability data Tell voluntary self-identification, service-use, accommodation, feedback and accessibility-test data apart, because each has different owners, rules and uses.
What you’ll be able to do Classify a piece of information as voluntary self-identification, service-use, accommodation, feedback or accessibility-test data and state the handling rule and appropriate use for each. Compare the responses to this question and explain your choice: What should human resources do? Document a next step for Five kinds of disability data: Map the disability-related data your area holds against the five types. Note any place where two types are stored together or where a type is used to answer a question it was not collected for. Different questions, different rules “Disability data” sounds like one thing. In practice a program holds at least five kinds, and confusing them is the most common way to break trust. A count of documents that pass an accessibility check is safe to publish on a wall. A list of staff who asked for a modified schedule is confidential and must stay in a separate, restricted file. Both are disability data.
The types differ in who provides the information, whether it was voluntary, whether it identifies a person, what law or policy governs it, and what question it can honestly answer. Learn the five, and you will know within a minute whether a request for data is safe, needs redesign or needs to be declined.
The five types Self-identification Service-use Accommodation Feedback Accessibility test
What it is: A person voluntarily reporting that they have a disability, usually in a workforce survey or applicant form.
Use it for: Aggregate workforce indicators such as representation, retention and engagement, compared across large groups.
Rules: Voluntary, anonymous or confidential, never linked to a supervisor’s view of an individual, reported only above a minimum group size.
What it is: Records of people receiving disability-related services or supports, such as waiver services, assessments or case management.
Use it for: Program planning, equity of access across counties and communities, timeliness and outcomes.
Rules: Governed by program law and data practices classifications; participants did not consent to be used as a workforce or facilities data source.
What it is: Requests, decisions and supporting documentation for workplace or program accommodations.
Use it for: Aggregate process measures: time to resolve, categories requested, approval patterns, cost.
Rules: Confidential medical-related information kept apart from personnel files with restricted access, as federal equal employment guidance describes. Counted, never browsed.
What it is: Complaints, survey comments, suggestions and testimony about access and experience.
Use it for: Themes, patterns and resolution times; the earliest signal that a barrier exists.
Rules: Do not require disability status to give feedback; protect free-text comments, which often identify people by detail.
What it is: Results of checking documents, websites, applications, rooms and events against standards such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
Use it for: Measuring the accessibility of the organization’s own products and spaces; the most direct barrier measure there is.
Rules: Describes things, not people. Safe to share widely. Include severity, not only pass or fail.
Which type is it? Count of staff who marked “yes” to the voluntary disability question on the workforce survey.
Choose a category Self-identification Service-use Accommodation Feedback Accessibility test Number of people in a county receiving a home and community-based waiver service this quarter.
Choose a category Self-identification Service-use Accommodation Feedback Accessibility test Average working days between an accommodation request and a decision.
Choose a category Self-identification Service-use Accommodation Feedback Accessibility test Three complaints that the lobby check-in kiosk cannot be used from a seated position.
Choose a category Self-identification Service-use Accommodation Feedback Accessibility test Share of public notices on the program page that pass both an accessibility checker and a review by a person.
Choose a category Self-identification Service-use Accommodation Feedback Accessibility test A medical provider’s letter supporting a request for a modified schedule.
Choose a category Self-identification Service-use Accommodation Feedback Accessibility test Check matches Reset Refuse the merge What you can change You control whether different data types are joined in one file, report or progress summary.
What to watch for Do not build a view that places accommodation records next to performance ratings, or self-identification answers next to names. A join like that turns protective data into exposure with one click.
Your next step Review the next progress summary or spreadsheet request you receive for hidden joins between the five types, and separate them before you build.
Handling rules to remember Where do accommodation records live?
In a separate confidential file with restricted access, apart from the personnel file. Supervisors learn what the accommodation is, not the diagnosis behind it.
Can service-use data describe the workforce?
No. Participants receiving services are not the staff population, and they did not consent to that use. Keep program data and workforce data in their own lanes.
Should a feedback form ask about disability status?
Only if it is optional and the answer changes what happens next. Ask about the barrier experienced; that is what you can fix.
What makes accessibility-test data powerful?
It measures the organization, not the person. It can be repeated, compared over time and published without any privacy risk.
Carry this forward The five types answer different questions and must never be merged into one file or one progress summary.
Accommodation records are confidential medical-related information kept apart from personnel files; they are counted in aggregate, never browsed.
Accessibility-test results describe documents, sites and rooms, not people; they are the least sensitive and the most underused.
A completed sort of eight items into five types, with one line on how each type may be used.
Map the disability-related data your area holds against the five types. Note any place where two types are stored together or where a type is used to answer a question it was not collected for.
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