Like most things relating to disability, research can be few and far between. If the government funded research on these topics, they might have to do something to support our human rights, which is expensive for them. Ableism also makes supporting disabled people quite unpopular, too.
March 2022 data suggests that people with a disability need 50% more income than those without a disability.
The income needed has also been estimated to be as much as 102% more.
This blog post is my call for:
- people to stop expecting voluntary work from disabled people
- to pay your disabled staff a significant percentage more than your non disabled staff
I have more to say on valuing our knowledge in disability specific contexts (eg codesign) at a later date. But the takeaway now is that if you think you’re doing some big gracious favour by having a token disabled person in your company, and you’re not paying them more than your non disabled staff, you’re not “helping” as much as you think you are. I am not a lawyer, and the legalities of this can be worked out by someone else, because frankly I do not care.
I view this as a social and ethical imbalance that could be easily corrected if the will existed.
Thank you to Phonakins for helping me source research on this topic. Please consider following their blog and financially contributing to their advocacy.
[…] not paid enough because disability is under valued in society and so are work roles associated with […]
[…] are going to means test disability supports, then we can’t be judged by non disabled needs. Research shows we need 50%-102% more income than non disabled […]
[…] It does happen, but not nearly enough. There’s a problem with disabled people being expected to volunteer knowledge, often traumatising knowledge, without compensation. This is particularly irritating when disabled people have a higher cost of living than non disabled people (as covered here). […]