Significant wage gaps between nurses with and without disabilities found in the United States

 

"Health Affairs Scholar" published the results of a study of wage gaps between nurses with and without disabilities in the United States.

"This study analyzed cross-sectional data from the 2008-2023 American Community Survey (ACS) among working-age (20-65 years old) employed nurses. Nurses self-identified as Registered Nurses (RNs) or Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs): Nurse practitioners, Nurse anesthetists, and Nurse midwives. An individual was considered disabled if they answered yes to any of the 6 ACS disability questions (Appendix 1). Linear regressions estimated outcomes (logged annual and hourly wages and total hours worked annually) as a function of disability, adjusting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, year, and state-by-metropolitan area fixed effects. We conducted subgroup analyses by occupation (RNs vs APRNs), age-group, and disability type. All models included robust standard errors and incorporated ACS survey weights and complex survey design."

"The analytic sample included 473 850 employed nurses, with 17 425 (weighted, 3.5%) reporting a disability. See Table S1 in Appendix 2 for sample characteristics. The most common disability types were mobility (23.9%) and hearing (22.1%) disabilities. Employed, working-age nurses with disabilities were older, on average, than those without disabilities (mean age: 48.6 vs 42.6, respectively). The top industries where nurses with and without disabilities worked were overall similar (ie, hospitals, outpatient care centers, and nursing facilities), though a smaller proportion of disabled nurses (55.1%) worked in hospitals than non-disabled nurses (63.7%)."

"In adjusted analyses, disabled nurses earned 12.2% lower annual wages (95% CI, −13.6 to −10.8; P < 0.001) and 7.4% lower hourly wages (95% CI, −8.3 to −6.5; P < 0.001), and worked 27 fewer hours annually than non-disabled nurses. Wage differences between nurses with and without disabilities remained significant after adjusting for total hours worked (Table 1). Models that additionally adjusted for industry (job location) showed similar estimates for primary outcomes (see Table S2 in Appendix 2)."

"Overall, these findings point to wide disability-based wage gaps within the largest U.S. healthcare workforce. As more nurses enter the workforce with disabilities or acquire them with age or the physical demands of the job,³ policy and organizational changes to foster disability-inclusive workplaces are essential to improve retention, equity, and patient care.^4"

Please visit:

Laurin Bixby, K Jane Muir, Michelle Kephart, Mihir Kakara, Wage gaps between US nurses with and without disabilities, Health Affairs Scholar, Volume 4, Issue 7, July 2026, qxag161, https://doi.org/10.1093/haschl/qxag161

Wage gaps between US nurses with and without disabilities to read the complete article.

Cheers!

Donna

Care at Shriners Hospital enabled patient with cerebral palsy to become a NICU nurse

Vanessa was born at 28 weeks. She spent 154 days in the NICU after being diagnosed with a significant brain bleed. While she developed into a bright, fully functioning toddler, her body struggled to keep up.

“I didn’t take my first steps until I was two and a half,” Vanessa said.

That delay led to a referral to Shriners Children’s in 1998 when she was 2. There, she was diagnosed with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy affecting her lower extremities.

Despite the difficulties, Vanessa holds some of her best childhood memories from Shriners Children’s – swimming in the therapy pool, playing basketball with a visiting Sacramento Kings player and the overwhelming sense of support.

“Shriners Children’s made me feel happy even when I felt sorry for myself,” she said. “It is one of a kind, and it totally made me the nurse I am today.”

That nursing path was intentional. Though she once dreamed of being a surgeon, she realized nurses are the backbone of the hospital, providing the crucial face-to-face support for families. She and her now-wife moved to Arizona for nursing school, navigating their education through the COVID-19 pandemic, where Vanessa gained frontline experience as a certified nursing assistant in a COVID unit.

Today, she has achieved her dream job: working as a NICU nurse at a top-level hospital in the Pacific Northwest, caring for the most premature infants.

“I chose the NICU because prematurity is a top risk factor for developing a disability like CP,” Vanessa said. “Having been a NICU baby myself, and hearing what my mom went through as a single parent, I wanted to provide the same support and compassion for my patients that UC Davis and Shriners gave us.”

For her, the work is deeply personal and preventative.

“Reading my own old medical records, I see how far NICU medicine has come. Now, we’re on the frontline protecting these preemie babies. It’s a privilege and an honor.”

Read more about Vanessa at: 

https://www.shrinerschildrens.org/en/news-and-media/patient-stories/2026/02/vanessa-cerebral-palsy-care

Cheers!

Donna