Ending Hunger in America, 2014 Hunger Report Full Report | Page 111

CHAPTER 3
Sympathy Is Not Enough
Several studies show that a household that includes a disabled person is more likely
to be food insecure than a household with the same income where no one is disabled.43
This is mainly because of additional expenses associated with the disability—usually extra
healthcare costs, possibly home care costs, and almost certainly prescription drug costs. One
study published in 2007 estimated that an income of $10,160 for an able-bodied person was
equivalent to $26,668 for a person with a persistent work-limiting disability.44
As mentioned above, the disabled population of the United States experiences poverty
and hunger at more than double
the rate of the population at large.
Figure 3.8 Prevalence of Food Insecurity by Disability Status
In 2013, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) published the
Very low food security
agency’s first comprehensive study
Low food security
Households with no
about the relationship between
7.4
4.6
working-age adult with
12.0
disabilities
food security and disability.
Percent food insecure
(USDA uses the term “low food
security” to mean that a person
Households with a member
does not know where her next
13.0
11.8
(age 18-64) with other
24.8
reported disabilities
meals are coming from or is at risk
of hunger. “Very low food security,” meaning that a person goes
Households with a member
without food, is what everyone else
(age 18-64) not in
16.2
17.3
33.5
labor force-disabled
calls hunger.)
Using data collected in recent
0
10
20
30
40
years by the Census Bureau, the
Percent of households
USDA study found low food security in 25 percent of households
Source: Alisha Coleman-Jensen and Mark Nord (January 2013), “Food Insecurity among
where there was a disabled adult
Households with Working Age Adults with Disabilities,” U.S. Department of Agriculture,
of working age (18-64), and in 33
Economic Research Service. Calculations based on 2009 and 2010 Current Population Survey
Food Security Supplement data.
percent of households where there
was a disabled adult of working
age who was not employed. “Very low food security,” as we just mentioned, is hunger. Among
households with a disabled adult who was not employed, 17.3 percent experienced very low
food security—a rate nearly four times higher than that of households where no working-age
adult had a disability.45 See Figure 3.8.
Some of the households with very low food security were receiving SNAP benefits—in
fact, households with a disabled person participate in SNAP and other safety-net programs
at very high rates. So why did these households still experience hunger?
The USDA study doesn’t address this question, but the answer is not hard to find: monthly
SNAP benefits, on average, last most participants somewhere between two and three weeks.
Charitable food sources are needed to help supplement SNAP and the household’s own
resources. SNAP does, however, reduce the number of days each month that recipients experience hunger. As the USDA study notes, “Households that choose to apply for SNAP are in
the greatest need of food assistance and most likely to be food insecure.”
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