A war is nearly impossible to win when you don’t know who you are fighting.

Jason Hardy and Arthur Lyons
of the Center for Economic Policy
Analysis in Chicago think hard about
_{the War on Poverty} the real enemy, the real casualties

We claim to have been	others) from leaving financial	due to poor understanding, we
fighting a war on poverty in	poverty by denying them	fail to take this idea to its
the U.S. since 1964, but	access to the tools they could	reasonable conclusion: if some
poverty persists because those	use to help themselves.	people in a building are good,
fighting the war have never	One particular brand of	then more people are better,
been able to accurately iden-	poor perception and under-	because that will allow more
tify the real enemy. With the	standing leads people to talk	individual talents and abilities
wrong enemy in their sights,	about the hardship of provid-	to be put to use inside the
the generals in this war have	ing accommodations for	building’s walls. Improved
launched a series of misguided	people with disabilities. The	perception tells us that if
assaults, leaving the real	excuses are constant and	there was reason enough to
problems unharmed.	familiar: it costs too much	make an accommodation to
The prime mistake has	money; we can’t give that	let some people in, there must
been a too-narrow definition	much “special” attention;	also be reason to make it
of what poverty is; the war has	“these people” don’t know	possible for all people to enter
focused almost entirely on one	what’s best for them. And so	and join us.
brand of poverty, the financial	some people are admitted into
kind. This type of poverty is	society while others are locked
only a symptom of the real	out.	Until people over-
problem. The real enemy is	Poverty of perception is	come their poor perception,
the compulsion of people to	blind to the fact that “accom-	and for as long as many
see what is different as being	modations” are a part of	continue to believe that it is
wrong. It is a lack of under-	everyday life. After all, put-	too difficult and expensive to
standing that people live in	ting a door in a building is an	provide full access for all
thousands of different ways,	accommodation, since the	people, they force others into
and can choose their own	building probably would be	a state of financial poverty —
path, even if it’s different from	cheaper and easier to build	with no way out.
what millions of others	without it. But we put the	Since the current war on
choose.	doors in as an accommodation	poverty does not recognize
We could call the enemy	to those of us unable to walk	where the true problems lie, it
poverty of understanding or	through walls. This accommo-	also misplaces the blame for
poverty of perception.	dation is based on a simple	financial poverty. In the terms
These poverties often play	principle: a building with	of this war, financial poverty
a central role in keeping	people inside it is more useful	is the defining aspect of an
people with disabilities (and	than an empty one. However,	individual’s character. Never