Disability Data ACS5 2019

"Is there a dictionary specifying how each variable is measured?"

The ACS Subject Definitions (available here) are the most relevant docs for this question. There's a paragraph on each of the disability types.

Re: availability by block group, only 376 of the 1140 2020 5-year detailed tables included block group data, and that's about the same in all 5-year releases. Sirisha linked to the relevant doc ("Appendix B") that identifies which tables have block group data. Another option: using the NHGIS Data Finder, select filters for Block Groups and your 5-year period of interest. Then it'll list only those tables that have block group data.

For the "difficulty" questions I would look at the ACS form/questionnaire, which is mailed to households.  https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/methodology/questionnaires/2022/quest22.pdf   And think about how you would answer the questions for yourself or your family members.  For example:

Is this person deaf or does he/she have serious diffculty hearing?

Because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition, does this person have serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions?

From Jonathan's reference: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/tech_docs/subject_definitions/2021_ACSSubjectDefinitions.pdf

In an attempt to capture a variety of characteristics that encompass the definition of disability, the ACS identifies serious difficulty with four basic areas of functioning – hearing, vision, cognition, and ambulation. These functional limitations are supplemented by questions about difficulties with selected activities from the Katz Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) scales, namely difficulty bathing and dressing, and difficulty performing errands such as shopping. Overall, the ACS attempts to capture six aspects of disability, which can be used together to create an overall disability measure, or independently to identify populations with specific disability types.

If you are using these questions in a health related study, then I would dig into further detail about the questions.

I've done some work with interview questions and psychometric scales.  Here is a working paper by the US Census and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) with an analysis of the performance characteristics of the questions:

www.census.gov/.../2007_Brault_01.pdf

For the "difficulty" questions I would look at the ACS form/questionnaire, which is mailed to households.  https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/methodology/questionnaires/2022/quest22.pdf   And think about how you would answer the questions for yourself or your family members.  For example:

Is this person deaf or does he/she have serious diffculty hearing?

Because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition, does this person have serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions?

From Jonathan's reference: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/tech_docs/subject_definitions/2021_ACSSubjectDefinitions.pdf

In an attempt to capture a variety of characteristics that encompass the definition of disability, the ACS identifies serious difficulty with four basic areas of functioning – hearing, vision, cognition, and ambulation. These functional limitations are supplemented by questions about difficulties with selected activities from the Katz Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) scales, namely difficulty bathing and dressing, and difficulty performing errands such as shopping. Overall, the ACS attempts to capture six aspects of disability, which can be used together to create an overall disability measure, or independently to identify populations with specific disability types.

If you are using these questions in a health related study, then I would dig into further detail about the questions.

I've done some work with interview questions and psychometric scales.  Here is a working paper by the US Census and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) with an analysis of the performance characteristics of the questions:

www.census.gov/.../2007_Brault_01.pdf

For research in the medical literature go to https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ and put disability and American Community Survey into the search box.  For example here is a recent paper:

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr161-508.pdf