People with disabilities face increased risk of food insecurity
People with disabilities face increased risk of food insecurity
Despite the inflation rate's recent decline, the cost of putting food on the table is still too high for many in NJ's disabled community
Photo by Jason StrotherWe’ve all experienced some degree of sticker shock at the supermarket this year. Grocery prices are on the rise and many basic staples are making us think twice about placing them in our carts. I haven’t done the math, but the cost of my daily bowl of cereal seems like it’s gone through the roof.
For my monthly Lens Into NJ column for the TAPinto network, I wrote about how people with disabilities are feeling inflation the most, especially when it comes to putting food on the table. Since that op-ed came out, there’s been some, emphasis on some, good economic news. inflation slowed down. But, the cost of food still increased in July by 1.1%.
There is a correlation between disability and poverty, which makes feeding one’s family an even greater challenge for members of the state’s disabled community during these belt-tightening times. NJ is taking steps to help people with disabilities get out of the trap that often pits earning a living wage against keeping health insurance, but, it's still unclear how staying on Medicaid while having a job will actually work for these individuals. Inflationary pressure coupled with this uncertainty means that many families with a disabled member are now relying on hand-outs to keep everyone fed.
To inform my reporting on this topic, I spoke with Carole Tonks, Executive Director of the Alliance Center for Independence(ACI) in Edison. The organization has run a food pantry for several years and between the pandemic and inflation, it now must put families on a waiting list to receive meals. An excerpt of my conversation with her is below. You can also listen to it by clicking on the embedded audio player.
Jason
What is the need in the disabled community in New Jersey for the Alliance Center to operate a food pantry?
Carole
I think we were seeing the same things as a lot of people started seeing especially after Sandy, people were struggling, every disaster, people were without food, or without a way to get food, we started seeing some of our our consumers that would come in for our programs, were hungry, or talking about having an issue, you know, being able to get food. So we took like a shelf in our, in our storage closet. And we just started staff bringing in cans and food and just having it there for people. If we knew someone needed anything, it was really the, mostly the staff was just buying food and bringing it in. But when COVID hit, we were having, we went from having 30 people a month who use the pantry to over 100, 1110 people a month. the numbers grow. Now we have, we have a waiting list for families, because we're serving about 60 families now. We can;t take more than 60 or we're not going to be able to keep up with the demand for food. Unfortunately, we have people on waiting lists, and that is due to everything inflation and the costs being so high, that there's many more people facing food insecurity than there was three years ago. That's for sure.
Jason
Can you explain to me why people with disabilities are at particular risk of food insecurity.
Carole
Many people in the disability community or lower income, it's difficult we face this in here. Sometimes people, if they come in and they're on Social Security and they have Medicaid, they don't want to lose their Medicaid. They don't want to lose their SNAP benefits. So they don't want to lose this and that. The system is really hard. In many ways for a person with a disability to succeed, because especially if you're starting out where you're receiving utility assistance and, and SNAP assistance, and you're getting your Social Security and you're getting your Medicaid, the minute you start making too much money, your SNAP is gone, your your utility assistance is gone, and your Social Security is cut. So the incentives for people really to go out and work is difficult. It's scary. So I think, you know, Jason, it's kind of a whole systemic issue all around, I think. Not everybody is hired, if somebody, and I'm not saying that, I know discrimination is certainly down over the years, but I think employers have found a better way of getting around it without actually being discriminatory. So if two people came in, and were looking for the same job, and both had the same qualifications and one person, for whatever reason, their disability, they need accommodations, who's that employer going to give the job to?
Jason
without violating anyone's privacy, what else can you tell me about the kinds of people the food pantry serves?
Carole
It's anyone and anyone, anybody, it's individuals with disabilities, there are some individuals with disabilities who are living at home with parents and so the whole family comes. We have seniors with disabilities, that come, a lot of seniors. People are struggling. And people with disabilities especially have been struggling, just through COVID through prices going up and everybody needs a little help every now and then.
Jason
What are the stories you're hearing from some of your clients?
Carole
It's just sad they're having a hard time supporting themselves anymore. I hear people saying it's either gas in my car to go to work or food. People are having to make sacrifices on what they're doing. And hopefully that's not nutritious food.
Jason
How can people with disabilities in New Jersey seek assistance from the food pantry?
Carole
On our website, we have an application for them to fill out, which is just very basic. Are you a person with a disability, your name, your address. How many people in your household? And then right now we've been telling people you're on the waiting list. I am very happy to say that we received a grant through the county, which is going to allow us to purchase a couple more refrigerators and industrial sized refrigerators. Certainly more money is going to be able to afford more food in there, because we're feeling it, too. So if we're running out and we're buying chicken and chopped meat and eggs and cheese and milk, prices in the grocery store have gone up for us, too. We're not able to buy as much as we used to for the same amount of money
Jason
right, it hits us all
Carole
yeah, it hits everybody
I’ve been looking into the links between food insecurity and disability for much of this year. I was awarded an 11th Hour Food and Farming Journalism Fellowship from UC Berkeley’s J-School to report on how people who experience vision loss learn to independently cook and foodshop. I ended up spending a week at the Colorado Center for the Blind, where upon arrival, I was handed a cane and a blindfold. I had to learn to be totally blind. I’m putting that story together now and it's slated to come out sometime next year on a podcast whose name I won’t disclose at this moment. But, will send out updates on this story as the release date nears.
Reads
A curated list of stories concerning disability in NJ from over the past month
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NJ’s Tee Franklin wins Ford Disability Futures Award
Disabled people want to work, and Murphy signed a law to help them. Why are state officials holding it up?
Long-troubled nursing home that once housed hundreds of residents is now totally empty
Rutgers study on disability voting
More tenant protections for senior citizens, people with disabilities under new bill
(their website has an accessibility problem- no reader view)
He became a disability advocate ‘out of necessity
FDA allows hearing aids to be bought without prescriptio