Disabled people live in poverty at more than twice the rate of nondisabled people, and poverty has historically been higher in the South than anywhere else in the United States. In the labor market, workers with disabilities are paid less than workers without disabilities for completing the same work.
New Disabled South believes that elected leaders in the South have a responsibility to enact legislation that acknowledges and alleviates the root causes of poverty, through innovative programs and policies that resource disabled folks to live sustainably and work the jobs they are qualified for without losing access to the services we need to live sustainably in our communities.
This includes measures like ensuring fair wages and income support, strengthening worker protections, and reforming benefit programs to remove income restrictions and asset limits that keep disabled people in cycles of poverty.
New Disabled South believes in the importance of mutual aid. Mutual aid saves lives when formal institutions fail to meet the material needs of disabled people.