Economic Stability: Poverty and Food Insecurity

People with disabilities earn significantly lower wages than nondisabled workers, with U.S. disabled workers earning 87 cents to every dollar earned by nondisabled workers. Even when compensated fairly, disabled people may remain food insecure due to the extra expenses related to having a disability.

In addition, to become or remain eligible for many social safety net programs, disabled people must contend with restrictive rules around asset limits and work requirements, forcing them to remain in poverty or lose critical benefits.

In addition, efforts to address “food deserts” often focus only on physical distance from a convenient grocery store, but food deserts for disabled people include a wider array of issues than just proximity, including store and transportation accessibility as well as access to affordable, and sometimes specialized, food.

In this month’s roundtable, we will consider the implications of poverty and food insecurity as well as the ways plans, providers, and communities are partnering to meet these needs.

Learning Objectives

After completing this training, attendees will:

• Summarize the implications of and issues around poverty and food insecurity for people with disabilities
• Describe current efforts to promote economic stability
• List resources available to meet the unique needs of people with disabilities