This month's cover photo depicts a health care consumer who often receives inadequate primary care-a person with disabilities. And this person is not alone. There are an estimated 62 million noninstitutionalized adults in the United States living with some type of disability. Writing in JAMA in 2009, Kirschner and Curry described disability as "a universal aspect of human experience" that affects nearly everyone at some point. It is not restricted to the elderly-national data show that disability occurs across the life span, with 11% of people ages 18 to 44, 24% of people ages 45 to 64, and 52% of those ages 65 and older having a disability.

Figure. This month's cover photo depicts a health care consumer who often receives inadequate primary care-a person with disabilities. And this person is not alone. There are an estimated 62 million noninstitutionalized adults in the United States living with some type of disability. Photo (C) Istockphoto.com.

This month's original research article, "Interactions of People with Disabilities and Nursing Staff During Hospitalization," explores the compromised care given to those with disabilities, focusing on their experiences when interacting with nurses and unlicensed assistive personnel. Also in this issue is a moving patient perspective written by Lisa I. Iezzoni and Michael Ogg describing the inadequate-and at times unsafe-care given by hospital staff during the 10 weeks that Ogg, 55, quadriplegic from primary progressive multiple sclerosis, spent in four facilities for the treatment of a pressure ulcer that resulted from poor communication.

For more about disability and what nurses can do to better meet the needs of this patient population, read this month's Editorial.-Amy M. Collins, associate editor