Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted multiple areas of life for Social Security disability benefit recipients, including financial management and buying power, formal and informal support systems, welfare program eligibility and management, and access to employment. This chapter explores the impact of a global pandemic on the experience of managing life's daily emergencies as disabled adults living in poverty in California's Bay Area. Findings are presented from in-depth interviews and member check groups with 33 disabled adults from California's Bay Area receiving either Supplemental Security Income and/or Social Security Disability Insurance. Critical Disability Studies and a constructivist grounded theory approach drove data analysis. Findings show that ripple effects of near or below poverty-level benefits exacerbate the experience of inflationary prices and new costly routines required to survive the COVID-19 pandemic. While the COVID-19 pandemic was an opportunity to create the political will to improve, even if temporarily, some welfare-related conditions, the enhancements must continue and be expanded upon to build a safety net that can alleviate poverty and hunger before, during, and after officially recognized emergency conditions.