Economic Inequality during Covid-19 as a Pathway to Food Insecurity for People who are Disabled and Racialized as Non-White

ABSTRACT

Covid-19 heightened economic inequality across the U.S., especially for people who are disabled and non-white. These intersecting economic vulnerabilities open pathways to hunger. Using a survey from July 2020 (n = 2,043) in the Intermountain West, we find that economic inequality explained a substantial portion of food insecurity for people with disabilities. Racially stratified models show that people who were also non-white were more likely to be food insecure and receive differential protection from economic resources. Stronger social support will help mitigate food insecurity, yet such programs must grapple with the ways that ableism and racism intersect, especially during economic shock.

KEYWORDS:

• Mediation analysis
• economic inequality
• ableism
• race
• racism
• nutrition access
• Intermountain West

Acknowledgment

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the American Sociological Association annual meeting.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station, Utah State University, and approved as journal paper number 9569.