Disability and poverty

published 9/5/2007

People with disabilities are more likely to be living in poverty.

That was one of the messages shared with the Legislative Commission to End Poverty in Minnesota by 2020.

Created by a 2006 law, the commission is to study public policy strategies to end poverty in the state by 2020. A final report is due to the Legislature by Dec. 15, 2008. An interim report is scheduled to be available for the 2008 Legislature.

The second meeting was designed to look at the key patterns of poverty.

For example, the commission heard that 17.4 percent of Minnesotans with a disability live in poverty compared to 7.7 percent of non-disabled Minnesotans. The data does not include people living in group housing.

A 2005 study showed that 26 percent of Minnesotans with a mental disability live in poverty, as do 21.4 percent of people with a physical disability.

Concerns were also raised that the 2005 employment rate for people ages 21-64 with disabilities was 44.9 percent, of which just 26 percent were full-time positions. The numbers for Minnesotans without disabilities were 83.5 percent and 59 percent, respectively.   

Noting that health care and transportation costs continue to increase, it’s hard for disabled Minnesotans to meet all their needed expenses, said Joan Willshire, executive director of the Minnesota State Council on Disability. For example, she said a 2003 study indicated 36 percent of people with disabilities skipped doses, split pills or didn’t fill a prescription due to costs. The same percentage spent less on basic needs, such as food and heat, to pay for health care.

The commission also heard that 152,000 state children were living in poverty in 2006, a 35 percent increase since 2000. According to Children’s Defense Fund Minnesota, state rates are accelerating faster than the national average.

Homelessness among Minnesotans and the number of homeless children in Minnesota schools also continues to rise. For example, a one-night survey by Wilder Research in October 2006 found 7,713 people were homeless, a number comparable with 2000. However, researchers know not every person was counted. In 1991 the number was 2,975. More notable, researchers said, is the increase in the percentage of people with serious mental health disorders, which has climbed steadily for the past 12 years. For the first time in 2006, more than half of homeless adults and youth (age 17 and younger) reported a serious mental illness.

- Mike Cook