Poverty and disability greatly correlated, new study shows
© MCT News Service/Allentown Morning Call, Pennsylvania — 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. 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…. READ ARTICLE