I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8859 

To require the Bureau of the Census to collect information on deafblind 

individuals, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 27, 2024 

Mr. CARTWRIGHT (for himself, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. WILLIAMS of New 

York, Ms. NORTON, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. TONKO, Mr. DAVIS of North 

Carolina, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, 

Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. LAWLER, Mr. GOLDMAN of New York, Mr. 

JACKSON of Illinois, Ms. CROCKETT, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. 

HARDER of California, Mrs. PELTOLA, Mr. BOWMAN, Mr. MORELLE, and 

Mr. CA ́RDENAS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Oversight and Accountability 

A BILL 

To require the Bureau of the Census to collect information 

on deafblind individuals, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Deafblind Disabled Americans Table Approximation 

6 Act’’ or the ‘‘Deafblind DATA Act’’. 

7 (b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Individuals who are deafblind experience 

2 concomitant hearing and vision loss that may pre3 vent access to information, cause severe communica4 tion challenges, and interfere with social and emo5 tional well-being. In children, deafblindness may im6 pact development and educational attainment, while 

7 in adults, deafblindness may interfere with employ8 ment and other areas. The National Center on 

9 Deafblindness estimates 10,000 children and 40,000 

10 adults are deafblind, the National Association of 

11 Regulatory Utility Commissioners estimates 70,000– 

12 100,000 people are deafblind, and the Helen Keller 

13 National Center for Deafblind Youths and Adults es14 timates 2.47 million Americans have combined hear15 ing and vision loss. 

16 (2) It is difficult to determine the precise num17 ber of individuals who experience combined hearing 

18 and vision loss, and estimates from various national 

19 counts offer radically different estimates. 

20 (3) An accurate, centralized count of all individ21 uals who are deafblind in the United States is nec22 essary to effectively serve the unique needs of this 

23 population. Without a comprehensive national pic24 ture of this population, individuals who are deafblind 

25 may not receive the supports necessary to access inVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Aug 12, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8859.IH H8859

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1 formation, communicate effectively, and better their 

2 social and emotional well-being. 

3 (4) The Bureau of the Census currently does 

4 not count individuals who experience combined hear5 ing and vision loss. Through the American Commu6 nity Survey, the Bureau does collect data on those 

7 who are deaf or have ‘‘serious difficulty hearing’’ 

8 and those who are blind or have ‘‘serious difficulty 

9 seeing even when wearing glasses’’. However, this 

10 data is not cross referenced to provide information 

11 about those who have both limitations. 

12 (5) Some people who experience combined hear13 ing and vision loss identify as deafblind or as a part 

14 of the deafblind community. 

15 (6) By cross referencing this existing data to 

16 establish a count of all respondents to the American 

17 Community Survey who experience concomitant 

18 hearing and vision loss, an estimate of the United 

19 States deafblind population may be calculated. 

20 SEC. 2. REPORT AND PUBLICATION ON DEAFBLIND INDI21 VIDUALS. 

22 (a) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

23 of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Bureau 

24 of the Census shall submit to Congress a report on the 

25 feasibility of publishing the table described in subsection 


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1 (b) and the feasibility of expanding data collection on indi2 viduals who experience combined hearing and vision loss 

3 in the American Community Survey (or any successor sur4 vey). 

5 (b) PUBLICATION OF TABLE.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning in 2026 and each 

7 year thereafter, the Director of the Bureau of the 

8 Census shall publish, on the public website of the 

9 Bureau, a table summarizing respondents to the 

10 American Community Survey (or any successor sur11 vey) who answered ‘‘Yes’’ in such Survey to being 

12 both deaf and blind. The table shall include the fol13 lowing information, sorted by the State in which 

14 such respondent resides: 

15 (A) The sex, race, and age of any such re16 spondent. 

17 (B) Economic characteristics of any such 

18 respondent, including employment status, edu19 cational attainment, earnings, and poverty sta20 tus. 

21 (2) LIMITATION.—The Director shall ensure 

22 that no personally identifiable information of any in23 dividual is published under paragraph (1). 

Æ 


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