Income Poverty and Material Hardship among U.S. Women with Disabilities

Abstract

This study analyzes the 2002 wave of the National Survey of America’s Families to describe income poverty and material hardship among women with and without disabilities in the United States. Results suggest that women with disabilities experience such hardships as food insecurity, housing instability, inadequate health care, and loss of phone service at rates that are higher than those among nondisabled women. Rates of hardship remain higher even after adjusting for a host of individual characteristics, including marital status, age, race, and education. Although hardship declines as incomes rise for all women, those with disabilities show worse outcomes at every income level and experience substantial levels of hardship well into the middle and upper income ranges. The federal poverty level does not accurately capture women’s experiences of material hardship, and these discrepancies are considerably worse among women with disabilities.