Material Hardship in US Families Raising Children with Disabilities: Research Summary & Policy Implications

Overview: We compared experiences of material hardship, including food insecurity, housing instability, and health care access, in families raising children with and without disabilities. Families of children with disabilities experienced significantly greater hardship than families with nondisabled children. As family income rose above the federal poverty level, hardship declined sharply for families of nondisabled children but not for families of children with disabilities. Thus, the US federal poverty level was found to be a particularly poor predictor of hardship for families whose children have disabilities.