Disability, Food Insecurity, and Nutritional Assistance in the Context of COVID-19 Pandemic: Interrogating the Role of Perceived Everyday Discrimination

The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the need for nutritional assistance among many households, but prior research suggests that people with disabilities and other marginalized groups have been less likely to seek needed assistance due to perceived discriminatory experiences. We examined variation in the use of food assistance programs during the pandemic using data from a community survey of working-age adults with a sizeable subsample of people with disabilities in the Intermountain West region of the United States (N = 1,745). Study findings revealed that having a self-reported disability was associated with greater participation in food assistance programs, which was driven by higher rates of food insecurity. However, the mediated association between disability and nutritional assistance was reduced for food insecure adults who reported greater experiences of perceived daily discrimination. The implication is that perceived discriminatory experiences have diminished the benefits of health-promoting social services during the pandemic. Ways in which the findings extend previous literature on disability, social marginalization, and health disparities is also discussed.