Disability and Food Insecurity | Feeding Michigan Families

Beyond Hunger

Food insecurity disproportionately impacts individuals with disabilities and their families. In 2021, food insecurity impacted 28% of U.S. households with an adult out of the labor force because of a disability and 24% of households with an adult with a disability still in the labor force. This stands in stark contrast to the 7% of households with an adult without a disability affected by food insecurity.

Food insecurity among individuals with disabilities is caused by the intersection of numerous challenges and unaddressed needs. Families that include someone with a disability need an additional $17,690 per year to achieve the same standard of living as those without a family member with a disability.

Existing food assistance programs and policies inadequately address the specific needs and challenges individuals with disabilities face. As just one of many examples, individuals with vision or fine motor difficulties may struggle to navigate the online benefits application process, and connecting with a case worker over the phone or in person can be challenging due to high demand and limited resources. It is imperative to ensure that food assistance programs comprehensively address the needs of individuals with disabilities.

Who Participated

15%

of Feeding MI Families participants have a family member with a disability who does not receive SSI/SSDI benefits

17%

of Feeding MI Families participants have a family member with a disability who does receive SSI/SSDI benefits

In general, individuals with family members with a disability (whether receiving SSI/SSDI or not) participated in food assistance programs at a similar rate to those without a family member with a disability and also reported a similar frequency of sometimes or often receiving food or money for food from friends or family.

What We Learned

Consistently, households with a member with a disability reported lower satisfaction with food assistance than those without. Parent participants emphasized the costly nature of accommodating specific dietary requirements, the limited support from charitable food systems, and the occasional inadequacy of food benefits programs. Overall, having a family member with a disability can create great financial, emotional, and physical strains on families, increasing their need for fair, accessible and respectful food assistance.

“We have food allergies, so that makes it really hard sometimes to get access to food. We have a gluten allergy and that limits our bread on WIC. And that’s one of our biggest problems with my youngest – she doesn’t like the corn tortillas, but she wants peanut butter and jellies a lot, so I have to spend like $9 a loaf of bread.”

—Parent, Marquette County

“Having two kids with disabilities… I never know if I’m going to work a full week or not, you never know what’s gonna happen…. I have to worry about the grocery store when I can because I’m too busy trying to make sure that his fever doesn’t come back, make sure his asthma is under control while he has the flu, take him back and forth twice already to get injections.”

—Parent, Detroit

“I just haven’t [visited a food pantry] because of the food allergy. I didn’t think that there would be enough food that we could get and I’d have to give half of it away.”

—Parent, Marquette County

“Let kids, maybe teens, use the [EBT] card because… their parents are disabled. It’s hard for them because some of them have to go out and fend for themselves or get small things as they can because their parents can’t feed them.”

—Parent, Battle Creek