Disparity in Internet Access Among Parents With Disabilities in the United States

Internet access is critical for reaching most modern-day resources and systems. Yet many do not have consistent access, including people with disabilities. This can have an outsized impact on children, which COVID-19 lockdowns revealed in 2020 to 2021. However, internet access for parents with disabilities and their children is not well-studied. This study aims to fill that gap.

We used 2018 to 2022 American Community Survey data. Parents are defined as adults with a co-residing minor for whom they are presumed responsible, and are classified as with or without disabilities. Outcomes include presence of any home internet access and home high-speed internet access, and were analyzed by the presence of disability and type of disability.

Results from modified Poisson regression analysis reveals that disabled parents are 1.79 times as likely as nondisabled parents to not have any home internet access ( p < 0.001) and 1.40 times as likely to not have home high-speed internet access ( p < 0.001). Adjustment for sociodemographic factors somewhat alleviated these disparities, but even after controlling for urbanicity, poverty, program participation, and family employment status, statistically significant disparities remained for most disability subtypes. Parents with hearing disabilities were most likely to lack home internet access.

Among US parents, disability status is associated with lacking any home internet access and lacking home high-speed internet access. Given the importance of internet access in nearly all aspects of modern society for children and families, continued and increased support for programs that assist parents with disabilities may be an avenue for improving access.