Disability and foodbank use in the UK

Vulnerability to food insecurity among disabled people is a growing concern, particularly Covid19 and with the cost-of-living crisis. Compared to UK national statistics, disabled people had already been found to be over three-times more prevalent among adults using food banks than in the wider adult population (Loopstra and Lalor, 2017). The heightened risk of food insecurity among disabled people, and some groups of disabled people in particular, with evidence that these problems have become worse among this group, raise questions about drivers of these risks and how barriers and facilitators hinder or improve access to food among disabled people, as well as to what extent experience is shared or heterogeneous, how and why. Food insecurity can result from financial insecurity, poverty, social exclusion, poor health, access to benefits, and a lack of personal support networks (which are also often aspects of the disability experience) (Schwartz et al., 2019). Additionally, food insecurity has negative impacts on daily functioning and health, particularly mental health, in the long as well as the short term. Understanding the relationship between disability and food insecurity can aid better understanding of what could improve food security.