In a job search, how beneficial is it to volunteer info about your race, gender, disability status, etc?

Federal and state laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of an applicant’s race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age or disability.  One wrong question could provoke a discrimination charge or a lawsuit.  State and local government laws also prohibit discrimination based on factors such as marital status, pregnancy, and sexual orientation.

We already know that there is a dearth of minorities and women at Corporate America, especially at the top. I also know that organization's like HACR are committed to working with Corporate America to ensure that more qualified Latinos are being recruited for employment. According to HACR's 2010 report, their Corporate Inclusion Index (CII) survey demonstrated that for a median average of 60,810 total US employees, an average of 4,393 Hispanics employees held those positions. This means that only 7% of the U.S. employee base were represented by a Hispanic employee. (Full report available here: http://www.hacr.org/docLib/20101217_2010HACRCII.pdf)


So when you're filling out an application for employment and a corporation asks you to voluntarily provide information about your race, gender and disability status is it beneficial to be so forthright?

How do we know that HR looks upon these specifics in a positive way? How do we know if HR decides they've fulfilled their quota for the month or year on minorities, females and/or those with disabilities and therefore look unfavorably upon these kind of candidates? What do you think?