Is “affordability” a red herring for Disabled folks in this year’s elections

As we move into election season, one word will come up. A lot. “Affordability.” In fact, if you have been paying attention to politics, it’s more than likely that you’ve already started hearing this word.

As we hear this, those of us in the Disability Community do so with a healthy degree of cynicism. We are acutely aware of the “disability tax” – the extra money it costs to live because we are disabled. This can be outfitting a car to be accessible or taking an Uber or a train because you can’t afford to, or your disability won’t let you drive. It is the added expense of medical equipment and other devices that Medicaid or other health insurance doesn’t cover. In all, the disability tax amounts to a “surcharge” of about 28%. This means it costs Disabled folks $1.28 for every $1 able-bodied folks have to spend, or an average of $17,690 per year just for living your life.

What does affordability mean though when a lack of accessibility combined with ableist job descriptions such as those that require an ability to lift 25 pounds prevent many from earning income through employment?

What does it mean when government policies like the subminimum wage and systemic discrimination resulting in wage structures that pay Disabled employees $0.66 on the dollar for the same work as white, male able-bodied peers, and less if you are a Disabled woman, a BIPOC Disabled man, or even less if you are a BIPOC Disabled woman?

Despite the cynicism the disability tax invokes, despite the questions structural and intentional ableism, compounded by other -isms, raise, the affordability discussion provides opportunity. We, as a community, must ask ourselves and policymakers one critical question, “How can we use this focus on affordability to build a system more affordable for everyone – including us?

Why “affordability” is everywhere

In June of 2025, then-Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani shocked the political establishment by beating former Governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary for New York City Mayor. Mamdani’s victory was largely attributed to his message discipline tied to one, simple word that almost every New York City resident could relate to – affordability. He focused on the lack of affordability in New York City and used a series of policies related to housing, banking, tax policy, daycare, schools, and even the cost of World Cup tickets to bring it home.

Previous candidates had tried to address this issue, but they were third party candidates ala Jimmy “The Rent is Too Damn High” McMillan, and the political establishment laughed at their message. Five months after Mayor Mamdani’s victory, in Virginia and New Jersey, establishment figures like Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill rode a message of affordability to victory in each of their respective races for Governor.

Affordability and the disability tax

The concept of the disability tax is not new, and even if they haven’t heard the term or haven’t put their own words to it, anyone with a disability knows things are just more expensive. Whether it is additional costs stemming from limited transportation options or higher housing costs related to living near a bus line or ensuring a house or apartment is accessible, the cost increases are there. Just paying for medications and medical equipment, or for home care (or supplementing inadequate wages paid by Medicaid in CDPAP so you can actually hire someone) can represent an enormous amount.

And this doesn’t even begin to address the psychological and physical toll coordinating these extra expenses takes on us.

As affordability as a political message takes hold, it means different things to different people. The media will tell you affordability means doing something about $4.00 gas or the high price of groceries. Others, like Mayor Mamdani might focus on housing costs or public transit. For others, it might mean tackling student loans.

These are all important, and impact folks with disabilities. But they don’t get to the underlying aspects of affordability that speak to the truth that life has always been more expensive for folks with disabilities. The more disabled you are, the more expensive life is.

If you have other characteristics that stack on top of your disability – you happen to be Black, or LGBTQ+, or Latinx, or an immigrant, or live in poverty – those expenses continue to stack even higher. Discrimination, poverty, and other barriers compound the Disability affordability crisis by limiting income while dramatically increasing society’s ability to exploit you for increased profit.

But the cruelest twist is for Disabled folks, even trying to battle the barriers and meet the higher cost of living can make life more expensive. For those who need home care, the only real option for almost all is Medicaid. Commercial health insurance, no matter how good, does not cover the benefit. Neither does Medicare. But, to qualify for Medicaid, your income and savings are capped. This is not true for all on Medicaid though – only those in need of long-term care see their savings capped, preventing an ability to deal with unplanned emergencies or put away anything meaningful to try to retire with dignity.

It costs 28% more to live. Income and assets are capped at poverty levels (not official poverty level, but that formula has not been adjusted in decades and does not reflect cost of living in New York). Income itself if limited. Then, Disabled folks are punished further because the limited money they can earn only goes 80% as far as able-bodied folks.

Therefore, it is not only important to ask how we can build a more affordable system that works for everyone – including us, it is mandatory.

Using Disability Justice to address affordability

For Disabled folks, the issues related to affordability are woven in the very fabric of our systems. Therefore, in order to address them, we cannot just tinker around the edges. Disability Justice provides a perspective that allows us to fundamentally question and seek to change underlying tenets of the system.

Disabled folks are everyone – White, Black, Latinx, Asian, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Palestinian, Irish, Mexican, immigrant, refugee, man, woman, trans, gay, straight, lesbian, and more. We have physical disabilities, developmental disabilities, mental disabilities, TBI, neurodivergence, and more. We are born with disabilities and we acquired disabilities. We use wheelchairs, walkers, canes, prosthetics, and present as able-bodied.

So, it is critical that when we address affordability, we look at affordability from the perspective of the whole individual.

We cannot hold to and protect a political tribe. Instead, we must hold our leaders accountable to the needs of our community. Nobody gets a pass because of party. Nobody gets a pass because the other person is worse. Any politician, of any political stripe, looking at affordability in a manner that continues the system with small tweaks at the edges doesn’t understand that this system has already failed us irreparably.

So what is affordability through a disability justice lens? What is meaningful change?

Affordability is enacting single payer health insurance with a long-term care option, a proposal known at the state level as New York Health. Immediately, Disabled folks could work and not be worried about losing their long-term care. They could put aside a savings for retirement, and actually accept the promotion or bonus they are offered without worrying about losing benefits. Further, employers would not be worried about the impact of hiring someone with a disability because of the cost to their health insurance policy.

In housing, affordability doesn’t just mean quality housing, it means quality, accessible housing. It means taking a program like Access to Home, which provides critical environmental modifications for free for both renters and homeowners, and make it a benefit in the long-term care package. Such changes would recognize that for a Disabled person, a bathroom or kitchen remodel is about being able to use the space and stay at home, not updating aesthetics.

Affordability means making public transportation reliable and accessible to all, not only those who can climb steps or get to a bus stop. That means building out and expanding paratransit services and bus lines. It means financing public transit in such a way that it is reliable, accessible, and affordable. It means ensuring that cabs, including Autonomous Vehicles when they are ready, are accessible to all.

This isn’t a full list of what is needed to achieve an affordability agenda that works for Disabled folks, but it is a start. New York Health, readily available assistance with home and vehicle modifications, a high quality, and a high-quality, reliable and accessible public transit system that includes accessible cabs would begin to lower the disability tax and create a new, more equitable system. A system that works for every Disabled person. A system that focuses on meeting our needs, not exploiting us for profit.

So when your elected officials talk this Spring, Summer and Fall about how they are going to make things more affordable, ask them what it means for you as a Disabled person, and don’t accept half measures.