Out of work = hungry?

Disability is responsible for putting many people out of work and therefore, these people do not have the financial earning power that they would otherwise. Even living off disability checks becomes difficult. I know this first hand because my mother is trying to support two children on disability. It is nearly impossible without any other source of income. But what does this mean for those who don't have the funds to buy healthy food because of their job status. Surely it isn't their fault...

Food insecurity at the household level is said to be due to one of two factors: low earnings or high expenses. Guess what? Disability of working aged adults (18-64) increases prevalence of both of these factors. In the best of situations, people with disability are unable to go to work and therefore do not bring in some money to support the family. However, in the worst cases, those on disability need extra care (which eats into paid employment time) and/or need to purchase medication or other expenses. A representative of the United States Department of Agriculture states that extra expenses can include "wheelchairs, special telephones, or other adaptive equipment. In addition, people with disabilities may have difficulty shopping for food and preparing healthy meals" (Coleman-Jensen, 2013).

Disabilities include:
-Hearing disability: Deafness or hard of hearing
-Vision disability: Blindness or unable to see even with aids
-Mental disability: Difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions due to a physical, mental, or emotional condition
-Physical disability: Difficulty in mobility
-Self-care disability: Difficulty in bathing and dressing
-Going-outside-home disability: unable to leave the home alone without help.

Of course we can easily attribute food insecurity to disabled adults who are unable to hold a job, but what about those who are disabled and still hold a job? The USDA's research found that food insecurity was more common in households where working aged-adults were kept out of work due to disability rather than those who hold a steady job. Similarity, people with disabilities but maintained a job, had a higher prevalence of food insecurity over those with no disability.

So what are some steps that we can take as a community to help those with disabilities? Heads of households that are disabled usually need to hire in home maids in order to keep their house clean. These weekly expenses can add up and take away money needed to buy medication. If you know someone with disability in your neighborhood, offer to do their dishes once a week or to mow their lawn once a month. This will mean that they will not need to hire and pay someone to take care of chores. Though it will only be a volunteer position for you, it is an opportunity to build rapport and potential learn through the experiences of another. These people greatly appreciate any help they can get. Another possibly is to help disabled people start a garden in their yard. This way they will be able to grow fresh produce in their yard and less of their money will go toward groceries because seeds are cheaper. Of course, the upkeep of a garden may be too much for them to handle but if there are children in the household try to get them to find a new hobby in gardening. Watering plants twice a week is an easy task for children but will exponentially provide more food for the family.

Finding solution to help those with disabilities can be difficult. Do you have any suggestions?

References:

Coleman-Jensen, Alisha. Disability is an important risk factor for food insecurity. Feb 12, 2013. United States Department of Agriculture. 4 May 2014. Retrieved from: http://blogs.usda.gov/2013/02/12/disability-is-an-important-risk-factor-for-food-insecurity/

Disability Pic.jpg Retrieved from: http://www.pompeoinsurance.com/disability%20pic.jpg

How available is your food?

Now that we have learned what food insecurity is, the programs to eliminate food insecurity and the importance of food banks, we have to ask ourselves what leads to food insecurity in order to stop this global problem. To understand the causes of food insecurity we must first know exactly that it means. Food insecurity is not as simple as just having access to healthy foods. There are actually three pillars that define food insecurity:

-Food availability: sufficient quantities of food available on a consistent basis.
-Food access: access to resources for a nutritious diet
-Food use: knowledge on proper nutrition as well as water sanitation.

A family that lacks just one of these categories is considered food insecure. We have briefly discussed food access and food use. Now it is time to tackle the factors that determine food availability. 

A common misconception is that there is not enough food in the world to feed everyone. However, this is not true. There is enough food but the problem stems from limitations in food distribution. The amount of food on the planet actually exceeds need. Farms are constantly "throwing away" or decomposing living crops because they have no room to store their fresh produce. It costs too much money and time to effectively distribute all of the fresh food. Also many people that need food from these farms live too far away and would not be able to retrieve the food even if it was free. My personal solution to this problem is to endorse small scale farming rather than that in large fields. In the small scale farming method, there would be farms close to everyone that would be able to distribute food for their small region rather than it having to be imported from someplace far away. This will also cut out travel time for the produce and the beneficiaries would not have to worry about their foods going bad.

Another factor that plays into food insecurity are environmental factors such as the weather. When there are weather problems, the whole world is not affected. Typically if there is a hurricane, it is confined to one region. When weather hits, a farm loses all of its crops. Larger farms feed people on a larger scale and therefore if something is to happen more people would go hungry rather than having to bounce back from annihilation of a small farm due to weather.

Natural disasters, such as drought, kill many of the produce being grown on large scale farms. If the plants are not being watered naturally, the fields are typically too large to even attempt to water by hand. The solution of small scale farms also works towards a solution for the environmental problems. People that own small scale farms would have less land to take care of. Therefore, if there was a drought for instance, it would be much more possible to connect a hose to a water source and water the produce in a reasonable amount of time.

If you haven't gotten it by now. My proposition is simple. A way to eliminate some of the food availability and distribution problems is to integrate more small farms around the world rather than having a few centers that are in charge of mass production of fresh foods. In order to do so, we would have to increase global awareness and implement a program that ensures that each town has its own farm for food distribution.

References:

Food security. n.d. World health organization. 4 May 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.who.int/trade/glossary/story028/en/

Food security and food access. n.d. Grace food program 4 May 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.sustainabletable.org/280/food-security-food-access