About

Zachary A. Morris, PhD, MSW, is an Associate Professor at the Stony Brook University School of Social Welfare. He holds a Ph.D. and an M.S.W. from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.Phil. from the University of Oxford's Green Templeton College, as well as a B.Phil. from the University of Pittsburgh Honors College. His areas of interest include disability policy, comparative social policy, social isolation, poverty, program evaluation, and management and leadership in the nonprofit and public sectors. His work focuses on understanding and addressing social issues through policy analysis and program development, contributing to the fields of social welfare and social policy.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Psychology
• Economics
• Economic growth
• Demographic economics
• Political Science
• Medicine
• Demography
• Engineering
• Gerontology
• Public relations
• Psychiatry
• Pedagogy
• Law
• Social psychology

Selected publications

• The disability squeeze: Out-of-pocket expenses and unmet needs for disability-related goods and services in the U.S.

  Disability and health journal · 2025-07-19 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  BACKGROUND: Few studies have quantified the higher cost of living with a disability and the extent of unmet needs for disability-related goods and services as experienced by adults with disabilities in the U.S. OBJECTIVE: To provide national estimates of total annual out-of-pocket disability-related expenditures, their burden, and the prevalence of unmet needs, and to investigate whether persons with disabilities from underserved communities experience disparate impacts from "the disability squeeze." METHODS: We designed and fielded a survey in June of 2023 to a nationally representative sample of adults with disabilities through the Understanding America Study, an online panel survey. Multivariate regression analyses examine correlates with out-of-pocket expenditures, the financial burden of the expenditures, and unmet needs. RESULTS: Among 1168 working-age adults with disabilities, mean annual expenditures on disability-related goods and services was $5341 in June 2023, equating to 20 % of household income. Additionally, 67 % of adults with disabilities reported an unmet need. Controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, adults with disabilities with incomes below the federal poverty level reported significantly lower expenditures (p < .05) but greater financial burden from their out-of-pocket expenses (p < .05). Hispanic persons with disabilities also reported significantly lower expenditures (p < .05) but higher rates of unmet need (p < .05). CONCLUSION: Adults with disabilities in the U.S. experience considerable financial strain from their disability-related expenses and sustain high rates of unmet needs with disproportionate impacts identified for those from underserved communities.

  PublisherDOI

• The Disability Squeeze: How Unmet Needs and Out of Pocket Costs Impede Work for People With Disabilities

  2025-06-24

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract To access and sustain paid employment, people with disabilities often require disability-related goods and services and must make difficult decisions about what among these needs they can and cannot afford to pay for out-of-pocket. In this chapter, we examine how the deleterious financial strain of needing to purchase these goods and services, what we refer to as the disability squeeze, impedes the labor market participation of people with disabilities. We analyze novel survey data on the challenges of affording various kinds of out-of-pocket expenses by workers with disabilities. We ultimately argue that an inclusive future of work for people with disabilities calls for addressing the impact of the disability squeeze on employment through concerted efforts to reduce the extra costs of living with a disability.

  PublisherDOI

• Preventing Catastrophe: The Welfare State and Disaster Risk for People with Disabilities

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Estimating the magnitude and scope of disability-related direct costs: a systematised review

  The European Journal of Health Economics · 2025-11-20

  articleOpen access

  Globally, people with disabilities face a heightened risk of poverty, the extent of which is often underestimated due to a failure to account for disability-related direct costs or “extra costs”. People with disabilities spend significant proportions of their income on additional goods and services (e.g. personal assistance, assistive devices, extra healthcare, transportation): paying out-of-pocket for these items can substantially lower their standard of living, while inability to meet these costs can affect their well-being and social participation. Estimating the magnitude and sources of disability-related direct costs is key for policy and planning, as it can affect determinations of poverty and also identify where additional investment may be needed to reduce the individual burden of these costs (e.g., through social protection, designing more inclusive services). To synthesize evidence from recent studies on the magnitude and sources of extra costs amongst people with disabilities, comparing how estimates differ by methodological approaches, settings and individual characteristics. We conducted a systematised review of studies published between 2015 and January 2023. Searches covered 10 databases and the grey literature. We retrieved 75 studies covering 67 countries, which reported substantial costs that often significantly increased the risk of poverty amongst people with disabilities. There was high heterogeneity across studies, depending on methodological approach and individual and contextual factors. These findings indicate a pressing need to offset individual spending on costs, such as through more extensive social protection and through designing more inclusive services (e.g., health, education, transport). There is also a need for more consensus on best practices for measuring extra costs across methodological approaches.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A comparative analysis of self-identification and functional measures of disability

  Disability and health journal · 2025-11-06

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  BACKGROUND: Disability is typically measured in surveys using functional limitation questions rather than asking respondents to self-identify as having a disability. Little is known about the characteristics of those who self-identify with a disability and how they compare with those identified via functional limitation questions. OBJECTIVE: To compare the prevalence and characteristics of people with disabilities measured by both functional and self-identification measures, and to assess the overlap between these populations. METHODS: Using nationally representative survey data from 2023, we conduct bivariate comparisons of demographic, health, functional characteristics and financial needs between populations captured by self-identification question, the Washington Group Short Set on Functioning (WG-SS) and the American Community Survey Six (ACS-6) Questions. We estimate a multivariable regression to explore predictors of self-identification. RESULTS: Adding a self-identification question doubles the population with disabilities relative to measuring disability with the WG-SS alone, and increases the population by 30 % relative to the ACS-6 alone. People who self identify are less likely to be female or Hispanic/Latinx, are in worse physical health and more likely to be LGBTQIA + compared to those identified only by functional measures. The group identified by both the self-identification and either functioning question set are in the worst health and are more likely to participate in disability programs. CONCLUSION: Including a self-identification question in addition to functioning questions expands the prevalence of disability to varying degrees depending on which functional questions are used, but use of functioning and self-identification questions together enhances identification of the subgroup with highest needs.

  PublisherDOI

• People with blindness and low vision are squeezed by high costs of living − new research

  2024-10-30

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The Disability Squeeze: Out-of-Pocket Expenses and Unmet Needs for Disability-Related Goods and Services in the U.S

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2024-01-01

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• “Every day you are working you have to prove it”: Navigating the costs of work and ableism with visual impairment

  Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation · 2024-02-06 · 6 citations

  article

  BACKGROUND: People with visual impairment often need many items that their sighted counterparts do not, such as assistive devices, transportation services, and other disability-related goods and services. Acquiring these items represents a major barrier to the employment of people with visual impairment. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore the nature of disability-related employment costs as they relate to engagement in the labor market of people with visual impairment. METHODS: The research consisted of a qualitative analysis of interviews and focus groups with 15 visually impaired adults from the New York metro area. RESULTS: What emerged were the costs of accessing and maintaining employment— particularly related to meeting the expectations of expediency in the modern world— in areas like communication and transportation. These costs interacted with perceived ableism in the labor market and created a climate of job scarcity and anxiety, which came at additional cost to participants who felt stuck in low-paying work. CONCLUSIONS: Further research is needed on the impact of perceived ableism and disability-related employment costs, and on decreasing barriers to programs that may ameliorate these costs, such as vocational rehabilitation services. Such research would inform policy interventions geared toward enhancing disabled people’s participation in the labor market.

  PublisherDOI

• The experience of persons with disabilities as beneficiaries of Ghana’s District Assemblies Common Fund

  PLoS ONE · 2024-04-11 · 6 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Ghana's Disability Fund aims to build the capacity of persons with disabilities, particularly those outside of formal employment, to engage in livelihood generation activities as a way to reduce poverty. The objective of this paper is to investigate the kind of knowledge that exists on the District Assemblies Common Fund program, understand the experience of beneficiaries when they access the program, and examine the benefits on beneficiaries' livelihoods. The research consisted of five focus group discussions with 35 beneficiaries, key informant interviews with six member organizations of Ghana Federation of Disability Organizations, and interviews with eleven Disability Fund Management Committees members. This research found the experiences of beneficiaries on the program are varied yet the program on the whole has had a positive outcomes on their livelihoods. Persons with disabilities who participated in this study demonstrated knowledge of the program. Beneficiaries further described issues relating to the quality of purchased items, the procurement process, as well as reductions and changes to requested items. Disability-specific issues in accessing the funds were also noted. These limited the effectiveness of the Fund to meet its stated goals. The findings of the study can inform the Common Fund Secretariat efforts to improve the performance of the fund as well as the advocacy of the disability movement. The findings are also relevant to the design and implementation of other social protection programmes in low-and middle-income countries.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Methods for Estimating the Impact of Disability Costs for Designing Inclusive Policies

  Disabilities · 2023-11-07 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  The impact of disability on people’s lives is often underestimated because the extra costs of living with a disability are not accounted for. This paper analyzes several different methodologies for estimating those costs and explores their usefulness in designing inclusive social policies. For example, one approach is to measure what is currently being spent, while another is to estimate what would need to be spent for equal participation. These can be measured using statistical techniques or through a more qualitative methodology. Each of these methods has its advantages and disadvantages. The paper concludes with recommendations for which methodology fits which purpose, and how they can be used together to obtain a full accounting of the extra costs incurred by people with disabilities.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Asghar Zaidi

  University of Oxford

  6 shared

• Stephen V. McGarity

  5 shared

• Daniel Mont

  5 shared

• Jill Hanass‐Hancock

  University of KwaZulu-Natal

  4 shared

• Nanette Goodman

  Syracuse University

  3 shared

• Mercoledi Nasiir

  3 shared

• Stephanie Rennane

  3 shared

• Ludovico Carraro

  2 shared

Education

• PhD, School of Social Welfare

  University of California-Berkeley

  2017

• MPhil, Social Policy and Intervention

  University of Oxford

  2012