Hot off the heels of its work with Foodsmart, San Francisco-based Instacart announced on Thursday the advent of a new screener tool for determining SNAP eligibility. Instacart says the tool “lets people nationwide quickly and anonymously check whether they may be eligible for SNAP benefits in less than 60 seconds and easily find relevant state resources to streamline enrollment.” The company also boasts it’s “the first time an online grocery platform has offered a SNAP screening tool to consumers, making it easier than ever for people to check their eligibility and immediately find the resources they need to enroll.”
Instacart notes “millions” of Americans leverage their SNAP benefits to shop from “nearly 180 trusted national, regional and local retail banners and more than 30,000 stores that accept SNAP online through Instacart.” The company’s chief corporate affairs officer, Dani Dudeck, wrote a separate post in which she described the SNAP tool, saying in part Instacart serves as “an essential tool for millions of families” while adding the company is “dedicated to using our technology to help connect every person in the [United States] with healthy food.”
“Everyone deserves access to fresh, nutritious food, and we’re committed to using the power of Instacart to break down barriers that too often stand in the way,” Dudeck said in a statement included in the press release. “With food insecurity at an all-time high in the [United States], affecting more than one in every eight people, it’s more important than ever to raise awareness of critical assistance programs like SNAP that can help families meet their needs. By introducing our SNAP eligibility screener, we’re making it simpler for families to find out if they qualify and take the first steps toward putting more food on their tables.”
Both Instacart’s press release and Dudeck’s blog post make strong allusion to accessibility, with the former citing the company “[connects] more than 98% of households—including 95% of those in food deserts—with trusted grocers online.” While obvious everyone needs food for sustenance, it’s perhaps less obvious that many people—particularly those within the disability community—can’t always easily access food.
Whether due to medical and/or logistical circumstances, or some combination thereof, it’s highly plausible a disabled literally cannot go to the neighborhood supermarket or grocer to buy groceries. Yet they still need to eat like everyone else, so how do they get what they need?
Enter modern technology—specifically, an internet connection.
With a few taps on one’s iPhone, for instance, a disabled person can shop online via Instacart, SNAP benefits in tow, and have their shopping list brought directly to their doorstep. This means, not only are they getting food in their house, they’re buying it at a discount because of their governmental assistance. It’s the quintessential win-win situation.
The cynics of the world, in this case, usually people who don’t have disabilities, often like to sneer at online shopping by saying it plays into humanity’s laziest impulses. Why have your Whole Foods order brought to you when you can simply go get it? This mindset predictably glosses over the fact not all people can get off their keister and run errands like that. Services like Instacart—and Uber Eats and Amazon Prime, for that matter—are pitched to the mainstream as amenities of convenience. And yes, while everyone appreciates convenience, the reality is services such as Instacart are worth their weight in gold if you’re a disabled person.
It’s easy to see how Instacart and accessibility go hand-in-hand.