As EQUITY begins its sixth year as the leading disability asset building publication, we revisit the historical landscape which led to this ground breaking publication! 

People with disabilities experience some of the highest levels of poverty in the world. Recent World Bank estimates show that people with disabilities may account for as many as one in five of the world's poorest₁.  In the United States, according to the 1995 Current Population Survey, 39.7% of working-age persons with disabilities live in poverty. Furthermore, one-third (34%) of adults with disabilities live in households with a total income of $15,000 or less₂.  Disability can result in access that is more limited to education and employment, and leads to economic and social exclusion. Poor people with disabilities are caught in a vicious cycle of poverty and disability, each being both a cause and a consequence of the other₃.

Even as early as the late 1990’s, a myriad of literature existed demonstrating the positive effect that asset-building programs have on the lives of people living in poverty₄.  If one were to perform a simple internet search looking for asset-building opportunities, their results would likely have displayed testimonials, examples, and statistics pointing to the benefit of such programs.  However, one particular group of individuals seemingly left out of the asset-building discussion: people with disabilities₅.  Where was the literature that includes disability?  Where were those statistics, examples, and testimonials?  For the most part, the asset development wave failed to lift the most over-represented group of people living in poverty: people with disabilities₆.

Asset-building programs may indeed present the potential to alter the cycle of poverty and disability; however, many people with disabilities are falling through the cracks of asset-building programs₇. Despite the strong evidence linking poverty and disability, advocacy organizations and public policy makers have tended to bypass issues of disability in their reports and policy agenda₈.  Public policy has seemingly created a bifurcation, with separate policies and programs to address poverty and disability.  People with disabilities were not invited to participate in the discussions involving asset-building policy initiatives₉.  Furthermore, these policies or initiatives do not address the specific conditions faced by people with disabilities₁₀.

Many asset-building initiatives and programs tend to expect that people with disabilities will receive support and services from disability-specific programs.  However, this is not a realistic assumption, since disability organizations do not have the resources to provide these services₁₁.  In addition, it unnecessarily further segregates people with disabilities from conventional asset-building opportunities.

According to some estimates, 40% of TANF recipients have a disability₁₂.  These participants may not self-identify as being disabled and the program does not inquire as to one’s disability status.  These factors, among others, result in the individual with a disability failing to receive appropriate accommodations.  Without these accommodations, it is difficult for a participant to be successful in the program, and thus the cycle of disability and poverty repeats and intensifies.

Lastly, another obstacle for disability inclusion in asset-building programs is the shared misunderstanding about the population’s ability to build assets. This misconception from financial institutions, program administrators, and people with disabilities themselves is that they are unwilling and/or unable to save₁₃.  People with disabilities receiving public benefits often believe that building assets can jeopardize their income and health insurance₁₄.  Even though means-tested programs can provide additional hurdles, any person with a disability can learn to build assets with appropriate technical assistance.

This was the landscape, which existed in the late 1990’s for people with disabilities interested in asset-building programs₁₅.  What was needed was a program to bridge the gap between the disability and asset-building communities, a program which could change the economic expectation for people with disabilities.  In the end, this program would focus on two simple goals:

1. Increasing the participation of people with disabilities in asset-building programs
2. Assisting asset-building programs with the technical expertise to serve clients with disabilities. 

Two pioneers in the field of asset development and disability met in Oakland, California in 1998, at the World Institute on Disability to create such a program to be named “Access to Assets”.

The World Institute on Disability (WID) is a non-profit public policy center dedicated to the promotion of independence and full economic and social inclusion of people with disabilities. WID's Access to Assets (ATA) program provides training and technical assistance to asset building and disability organizations seeking to improve the inclusion of people with disabilities in poverty reduction programs. In addition, ATA provides information and referral services to individuals with disabilities and conducts federal and state policy analysis on related issues.  ATA provides the information, hope, and confidence to begin to change the economic expectation for people with disabilities.

The voice of the Access to Assets program is this very publication, EQUITY.  For more than five years, EQUITY has provided the connection between the disability and asset building communities. For people with disabilities unfamiliar with asset building, EQUITY continues to offer articles that educate and inspire. For the asset building community, EQUITY provides technical advice and assistance to include people with disabilities in asset building opportunities.

Over the last five years of the project, The EQUITY e-newsletter has reached over one million people as its readership continues to grow.  Published ten times per year, EQUITY currently reaches over 35,000 readers per month across both the disability and asset building communities. Over the next three years, EQUITY is projected to reach over 1.5 million people involved in asset building for people with disabilities.  This number, based on the newsletter’s current circulation and growth rate, is largely due to the consistent presence EQUITY has enjoyed as the premier asset building publication serving the disability and asset building communities.

EQUITY’s readership is as diverse as the intended fields it strives to unite.  30% coming from the asset building community, 29% from disability organizations, and 14% being individuals with disabilities, 12% credit unions, 9% government officials, and 6% from policymakers, academics, and others.

EQUITY includes articles from leaders in the field, program administrators, and participants in asset-building programs. Also included are helpful tips, answers to questions about disability issues, periodic federal policy updates, and resources. At the time of this writing, EQUITY remains the only publication in any format dedicated to asset-building opportunities for people with disabilities. Additionally, the archived searchable database of EQUITY issues and topics (www.wid.org/equity) represents the most comprehensive clearinghouse of asset-building information for people with disabilities.  Lastly, with five years of documented qualitative data, EQUITY provides the historical voice of the asset-building movement inclusive of people with disabilities.

EQUITY has become the trusted asset-building brand for people with disabilities. Google disability asset building and you will find EQUITY.  This kind of network trust is not easily repeatable. 

While it is always dangerous to fiddle with success, the editorial staff is pleased to announce the introduction of the second generation of the EQUITY publication.  Thanks to the generous funding of the Asset Accumulation and Economic Self-Sufficiency (AAESS) Project of the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), EQUITY will continue to evolve to better serve our readers and track the asset-building outcomes of people with disabilities.

Starting in this issue,

• the data and demographic information collected through EQUITY will both broaden and increase.  In addition to gathering basic demographic information, other data collection will include outcome-based data, showing how readers of EQUITY use the information to build assets and improve their financial situations.  Please help us better serve the needs of the readership, by taking the survey in this month’s Special Section (to take the survey now, click here).
  

• Starting in calendar year 2009, the Profile of the Month will add a new feature.  Every other issue will focus on an individual previously profiled, in an effort to illustrate the individual’s continuing asset-building work. Their successes, challenges, and progress will serve to illustrate that asset building for people with disabilities is a life long effort toward behavioral change.
  

• Also starting in 2009, EQUITY will have a new feature which chronicles one individual’s asset-building odyssey.  EQUITY welcomes Mr. Brandon Young to the Access to Assets staff.  Brandon, a native of North Philadelphia, will be blogging about his experiences as an African American male with a disability participating in an asset-building program.  Brandon has an interesting story to tell; check out his first blog in this issue of EQUITY.  You can also follow Brandon’s continuing journey to overcome expectations at http://accesstoassets.blogspot.com.

Over the last several years, EQUITY and Access to Assets has been on the ground and in the trenches, building the bridge between asset-building and the disability community.  Simply put, the bridge has been built. A strong footbridge needs to be re-enforced, supported, and broadened. We have built the infrastructure and trust of thousands of individuals and many organizations, from our collaboration with the National Disability Institute and the Real Economic Impact Tour, to the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions, to Southern New Hampshire’s School of Community Economic Development. These partnerships represent the hard work and network trust developed over the last five years that we will continue to develop, strengthen, and expand upon.

We have created quite a tremendous beginning, but for an even greater opportunity for asset development in the disability community, it is vital to capitalize on the name recognition of EQUITY to reach a greater audience.  Only one publication provides technical assistance to the asset building and disability communities. Only one publication regularly advocates for additional asset-building opportunities for people with disabilities.  Only one publication has been exclusively dedicated to make a change in the economic lives of people with disabilities.  That publication is EQUITY, and we look forward to meeting the needs of our readers as we move into this next phase of publication.

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Footnotes:

1.  Ann Elwan, Poverty and Disability; a background paper for the World Development Report, World Bank, October 1999.

2. John M. McNeil, Employment, Earnings and Disability, 2000.

3. Department of International Development (DFID), “Disability, poverty, and development,” February 2000 <http://62.189.42.51/DFIDstage/Pubs/files/disability.pdf.>.

4. Center For Enterprise Development, <www.cfed.org>.

5. Dede Leydorf, “Where Poverty meets Disability,” World Institute on Disability, 1999.

6 Megan O’Neil, “A Perfect Fit: People with Disabilities Building Assets,” World Institute on Disability, October 2005, < http://wid.org/programs/access-to-assets/equity/equity-e-newsletter-october-2005/a-perfect-fit-people-with-disabilities-building-assets/?searchterm=over%20poverty>.

7. “Benefits to Inclusion: A New Market in People with Disabilities,” World Institute on Disability, <http://wid.org/programs/access-to-assets/equity/equity-e-newsletter-summer-2004/benefits-to-inclusion-a-new-market-in-people-with-disabilities/?searchterm=disability%20marketing>.

8. Dede Leydorf, “Where Poverty meets Disability,” World Institute on Disability, 1999.

9. IBID

10. Dede Leydorf, “Where Poverty meets Disability,” World Institute on Disability, 1999.

11. “Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) and People with Disabilities: What IDA Providers Need to Know,” World Institute on Disability, March 2001

12. Eileen Sweeney, “Recent Studies Make Clear That Many Parents Who Are Current or Former Welfare Recipients Have Disabilities and Other Medical Conditions,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2000.

13. “Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) and People with Disabilities: What IDA Providers Need to Know,” World Institute on Disability, March 2001.

14. Megan O’Neil, “A Perfect Fit: People with Disabilities Building Assets,” World Institute on Disability, October 2005, <http://wid.org/programs/access-to-assets/equity/equity-e-newsletter-october-2005/a-perfect-fit-people-with-disabilities-building-assets/?searchterm=over%20poverty>.

15. “Use of Individual Development Accounts by People with Disabilities:  Barriers and Solutions,” 2001.