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3 Disability L.J. 1 (2022)

handle is hein.journals/dislwjn3 and id is 1 raw text is: POVERTY, WELFARE REFORM, AND THE MEANING OF DISABILITY Jennifer Pokempner1 Dorothy E. Roberts2 ABSTRACT The coincidence of poverty and disability has been widely acknowl- edged. The focus has been on the degree to which individuals with mental and physical disabilities face poverty because of their exclusion from the labor market and societal discrimination. There has been less concern, however, with the degree to which disability and illness are dis- tributed in ways that reflect gender, racial, and economic inequalities. Historically, poverty and disability have been addressed by sepa- rate governmental agencies and social assistance programs. With minor exceptions, disability has been addressed through programs struc- tured on a social insurance model while poverty has been dealt with by a means-tested public-assistance model. The nature and mode of assis- tance provided through both models reinforce a social and economic system in which the ideal citizen is a male engaged in waged work that provides sufficient income for family support and who is without respon- sibility for caretaking work within the home. Because this ideal neither reflects the lived experience of most families nor addresses the structural I J.D., University of Pennsylvania Law School, May 2000. 2. Professor, Northwestern University School of Law; faculty fellow, Institute for Policy Research. 1