Unmarried by Law: The Disability Marriage Penalty and Its Civil Rights Implications
Author: McKennis Orren
Published: 2025/12/06
Publication Type: Paper, Essay
Category Topic: Blogs - Stories - Related Publications
Page Content: Synopsis - Introduction - Main - Insights, Updates
Synopsis: This article examines the "disability marriage penalty" - a systemic financial disincentive that requires disabled adults to remain unmarried to retain essential government benefits like Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare - and argues that this policy represents a significant civil rights violation that contradicts the promise of marriage equality. Beyond historical roots in outdated eugenic ideology that classified disabled people as undesirable, the article details how current benefit structures systematically impoverish disabled individuals, capping SSI recipients at $967 monthly (below the poverty line) and penalizing earnings, while simultaneously creating economic barriers through disability-related costs like mobility equipment that can exceed $6,000.
The article traces legislative efforts including the Marriage Equality for Disabled Adults Act to reform these policies, ultimately demonstrating how this marriage penalty perpetuates second-class citizenship for disabled people by denying them fundamental rights available to non-disabled citizens. This work is valuable for disability advocates, policymakers, and anyone seeking to understand how seemingly unrelated benefit regulations actually construct systemic discrimination that intersects with issues of autonomy, poverty, and human dignity - Disabled World (DW).
Introduction
Marriage Equality That Falls Short
In 2015, the Supreme Court passed the Obergefell v. Hodges decision. This was a fantastic step forward for civil rights, giving queer people the right to marry the same sex. Despite that, the US still does not have true marriage equality. The "disability marriage penalty" is a financial disincentive, where marriage can lead to a reduction or loss of essential government benefits. Disabled Adult Children (DCA) are required to remain unmarried in order to receive crucial benefits, such as Social Security, survivors' benefits, Medicaid, and Medicare. The person's Social Security Disability Insurance is not affected, but many other essential benefits are lessened or lost. This is done because when married, the government considers a partner's income as shared with the disabled spouse, meaning they would not require government assistance.
Main Content
Historical Roots and The Myth of Undesirability
This marriage penalty is left over from a time when society believed that disabled people could not find love or be considered desirable, and created state laws for those who were "unfit to marry," for people who had intellectual disabilities or epilepsy. These state laws have now been overturned, but this idea of disabled people being lesser than, child-like, or asexual in nature is still present today. This isolation from society has been self-imposed by many disabled people, as they are excluded from society starting from a young age. How many lost years did I spend buying into the popular misconception that persons with disabilities were asexual, almost as though a third gender? How many potential relationships did I subvert out of fear of embarrassment? Too many - and I know I'm not alone (The Myth of Asexuality: A Survey of Social and Empirical Evidence | Sexuality and Disability).
Poverty by Design
Even outside of marriage, if a disabled person receiving SSI benefits earns more than $65 in a month, their benefits are reduced by $1 for every $2 they earn above the initial $65 exclusion. If a disabled person receiving Social Security Disability Insurance continues to earn above the SGA limit ($1,620 per month for non-blind individuals) after the 36-month Extended Period of Eligibility, their benefits will typically end. This systematically keeps disabled people in poverty. For Social Security Disability Insurance, the average monthly payment is around $1,352 to $1,580, but the specific amount will vary based on work history. For Supplemental Security Income, the maximum monthly payment is $967, and this was raised for 2026. This puts disabled people under the poverty line by $337 a month.
The Cost of Disability
And being disabled is expensive. An average Pride Mobility electric wheelchair, which is considered one of the best brands to buy, costs between $3,000 and $4,000, but prices can range from approximately $1,700 to over $6,000 depending on the model. Insurance or government assistance often doesn't cover the medical equipment that many people need to replace as frequently. This created a dependency on caregivers or partners, without the ability to save more than $2,000 in cash or a bank account. This can lead to unhealthy power dynamics where the person supporting the disabled person can just use their money as a tool to control their loved one.
Legislative Attempts
This marriage penalty has tried to be addressed by two California members of Congress. The bill (H.R. 6405) was introduced in the 117th Congress and reintroduced in the 118th (H.R. 6640) and 119th (H.R. 1389) Congresses. Among the three introductions spanning 2022 to 2025, Rep. Jimmy Panetta (CA-19) introduced the Marriage Equality for Disabled Adults Act, and later added cosponsors Rep. Lofgren, Rep. Norton, Rep. Garcia, Rep. Schakowsky, Rep. Pressley, and Rep. Nadler. The goal of this act is to eliminate the requirement that disabled adult children remain unmarried to receive lifetime benefits and health care through Social Security. It was referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, with specific provisions also going to the House Committee on Ways and Means (for Social Security) and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce (for health-related aspects).
Social Inequality and Second-Class Citizenship
Dom Ławniczak Evans is a Polish-Irish-American filmmaker, streamer, public speaker, and social activist who focuses on LGBT and disability rights, and also has Spinal Muscular Atrophy. When addressing the lack of marriage equality, he writes, "For many of us, this goes beyond the law, as our right to marry is contingent on a system of classism, which already seeks to keep many people with disabilities living in poverty" (Marriage Equality). This quote exemplifies this paper. Disabled people are not only being kept out of the societal step of marriage, but also kept at a distance from the "normal" people and subjected to being second-class citizens.