28 CFR Part 36 Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability; Movie Captioning and Video Description ANPRM

E. Increasing Numbers of Individuals with Hearing and Vision Impairments

The percentage of Americans approaching middle age and older is increasing. According to 2000 Census figures, Baby Boomers (i.e., individuals born between 1946 and 1964 or who were between the ages of 36 and 54 in 2000), comprised nearly a third of all Americans. Just over a fifth of the American populous was age 55 or older. From 1990 to 2000, the two fastest growing age groups were those 45 to 49 and 50 to 54. The younger of the two groups increased by nearly 45 percent, and the older increased by more than half (54.9 percent). Together these groups comprised nearly 38 million people (37,677,952). When joined with other "seniors," the 2000 Census figure for the over 45 age group increased to nearly 97 million people (96,944,389). Assuming the population has remained fairly constant, when the 2010 Census is completed and the results are released, Baby Boomers, who will then fall between the ages of 46 and 64, will make older Americans the largest segment of the U.S. population.

The aging of the population is significant because of the correlation between aging and hearing and vision impairment or loss. An October 21, 2008 Department of Health and Human Services´ Progress Review on Vision and Hearing in the United States noted that Richard Klein, Chief of the NCHS Health Promotion Statistics Branch, found that there are about 21 million adults in the United States that are visually impaired, and about 36 million (17 percent) have some degree of hearing loss.[6] The Progress Review also noted that "[a]s with vision problems, the number of U.S. adults with hearing loss is expected to increase significantly as the population ages, because hearing loss and aging are related to a high degree. Hearing loss is one of the three most prevalent chronic conditions in older Americans, ranking just after hypertension and arthritis." Progress Review: Vision and Hearing, http://www.healthypeople.gov/data/2010prog/focus28/. Moreover, at least one hearing loss website reports that "[a]s baby boomers reach retirement age starting in 2010, th[e] number of [Americans with hearing loss] is expected to rapidly climb and nearly double by the year 2030." Hearing Loss Association of America, Facts on Hearing Loss, http://www.hearingloss.org/learn/factsheets.asp.

[6] According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders of the National Institutes of Health, in 2004 there were 28 million Americans who had some type of hearing loss, and 500,000 to 750,000 Americans who had severe to profound hearing loss or deafness. Healthy Hearing 2010: Where Are We Now?, http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/inside/spr05/pg1.asp. The National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health reported in 2004, "With the aging of the population, the number of Americans with major eye diseases is increasing, and vision loss is becoming a major health problem. By the year 2020, the number of people who are blind or have low vision is projected to increase substantially.* * * Blindness or low vision affects 3.3 million Americans age 40 or over, or one in 28,* * * . This figure is projected to reach 5.5 million by 2020. * * * [L]ow vision and blindness increase significantly with age, particularly in people over age 65." See http://www.nei.nih.gov/news/pressreleases/041204.asp.