Each year, the TASH Conference strengthens the disability field by connecting attendees to innovative information and resources, facilitating connections between stakeholders within the disability movement, and helping attendees reignite their passion for an inclusive world. This year’s conference theme, “Gateway to Equity,” explores inclusive communities, schools, and workplaces that support people with disabilities, including those with complex support needs, in living a fair, just, and balanced life. Return to TASH website.
Individuals with disabilities are twice as likely to live in poverty than non-disabled individuals. In the recent year much attention has been given to the issue of poverty in America. However, the conversations seem to be lacking in terms of addressing the prevalence of poverty among individuals specifically. National Disability Institute (NDI) has done a great deal of work to examine the current and historical financial statuses of individuals with disabilities and their families. Additionally, NDI has identified many of the characteristics related to public policy that are thought to cause poverty among this population. This session will not only shed light on the connection between poverty and disability, but will offer a slate of public policy recommendations that would begin to address this issue which is prohibiting millions of individuals with disabilities from realizing economic mobility and financial self sufficiency. These recommendations will span an array of policies from employment, to asset building, and financial literacy. Moreover, the recommendations will be policies that predominately have documented bi-partisan support. . Learning objectives include: - The state of individuals with disabilities, and their families, with respect to economic status and poverty - Explanations to account for such a significant prevalence of poverty among the disability community - Recommendations of reasonable public policy solutions to begin to address the issue of poverty among individuals with disabilities and their families.
