Disability and Race

Disability and race both have important impacts on well-being, and though the relationship between the two factors has not been well explored, indications are that the relationship between the two has a significant influence on people’s lives. African Americans are not only more likely to have a disability, but it appears that the impact of that disability on their lives may be greater than it is on their white counterparts.

It is well known that both people of color and people with disabilities face barriers to education and employment that limit their earning potential. Less known is that African Americans are also more likely to have a disability. Fourteen percent of working-age African Americans have a disability compared with 11 percent of Non-Hispanic Whites and eight percent of Latinos (Figure 2). The relationship between race and disability, however, is complex.

Having a disability creates extra costs for people and can limit their economic opportunities.2 This can be especially difficult for people of color who already have poorer outcomes in education, income and employment, and who also are less likely to be fully banked and more likely to use predatory financial services.

While disability and poverty have an interactive effect, our social service system treats them separately. For example, disability benefits (including health coverage) are often hinged on proving one is incapable of work, but anti-poverty programs often have a work requirement.3 Thus, people with disabilities attempting to avoid poverty often face difficult choices. Is it preferable to leave the labor market and qualify for disability benefits or work at whatever level possible and receive wages and perhaps qualify for food stamps or the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)?

It is often said that disability is both a cause and consequence of poverty and poverty and disability reinforce each other, contributing to increased vulnerability and exclusion.5 Various factors and influences affect the relationship between race, poverty and disability. For example:

Poverty causes disability: Children living in poverty are more likely to have asthma, chronic illness, environmental trauma such as lead poisoning, learning problems and low birth weight that lead to disabilities. People in more physically demanding jobs are also more likely to suffer workplace illnesses and injuries.6

People in poverty are less able to treat disabling conditions and to mitigate their impact: Limited access to high quality medical care and early intervention may mean that a condition goes untreated longer and has potentially more severe long-term effects.7 

Disability causes poverty: Disability adversely affects employment possibilities and earnings.8 It also can impose additional costs on families, such as medical bills, transportation, modifications to their home and personal assistants.9 

Race is linked to poverty and disability in America: African Americans as a group continue to have lower incomes10 than whites and poorer health status than whites.11

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