Income supports for the disabled are inadequate

Poverty and disability greatly correlated, new study shows

By Mike Ervin, Chicago Tribune

Hard economic times are even harder when you have a disability. But poverty and disability don’t have to be synonymous if we design our policies well. 

A new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (a Washington-based think tank) titled “Half in Ten” states that almost 50 percent of working-age adults who experience poverty for at least a 12-month period have one or more disabilities.

In Canada, working age adults with disabilities who are living on CP Disability receive less than have of the low income cut-off (LICO)

People with disabilities, the report says, account for a larger share of those experiencing poverty than people in all other minority, ethnic and racial groups combined and are even a larger group than single parents.
The extra costs associated with living with a disability such as purchasing expensive equipment like wheelchairs and catheters or obtaining specialized medical attention keep many disabled people and their families in poverty, the report notes.

The report also astutely observes that direct care workers who assist people with disabilities in their homes and communities are often themselves in poverty. The median income for the 3 million direct care workers in the United States is only $17,000 a year, the report says.

Fortunately, there are several steps we can take to ensure that disability doesn’t spell poverty (for the rest of the story)

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