Impact of COVID-19

International News

Experiences of accessing education among people with disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from five low- and middle-income countries:

“The pandemic exacerbated the existing failure of education systems to cater to the needs of people with disabilities and their families. Beyond education, losses in functioning, mental health, and family wellbeing were acutely felt by caregivers.” (Jun, Oxford Development Studies)

Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to healthcare among people with disabilities: evidence from six low- and middle-income countries. “Key barriers to accessing healthcare during the pandemic included changes in availability of services due to systems restructuring, difficulty affording care due to the economic impacts of the pandemic, fear of contracting coronavirus, and a lack of human support to enable care-seeking.” (2023, International Journal for Equity in Health)

Why are people with intellectual disabilities clinically vulnerable to COVID-19? (2023, Lancet Public Health)

Spaces of Exclusion and Neglect: The Impact of COVID-19 on People With Disabilities in Bangladesh, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, and Uganda. (2023, Space and Culture)

An issue of Social Inclusion journal dedicated to Disability and Lessons from the Pandemic. (2023, Social Inclusion)

“Vulnerable” or Systematically Excluded? The Impact of Covid-19 on Disabled People in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. “We highlight the multiple exclusions faced by disabled people across the sectors of health, education, economy, community, and pandemic management.” (2022, Social Inclusion)

International Perspectives: Disabilities, Social Connectedness, and COVID-19 the experiences of three Special Olympics International (SOI) connected families and how they navigated the pandemic. (2022, Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness)

Millions of older people have died without being counted. WHO estimates 83% of excess mortality was among older people. (2022, HelpAge)

Five ways older women are affected by the pandemic. “With only 35% of older women confirming daily mobility out of their house by themselves, 2 in 3 older women faced restricted mobility.” (2022, UN Women)

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Ethiopia

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health care and people with mental health conditions. “Scarce mental health service settings were diverted to become COVID-19 treatment centres. Mental health care became narrowly biomedical with poorer quality of care due to infrequent follow-up. Households of people with pre-existing mental health conditions in the community reported worsening poverty and decreased access to care due to restricted movement, decreased availability and fear.” (2022, International Journal of Mental Health Systems)

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South Africa

How did South Africans with disabilities experience COVID-19? Results of an online survey: “people with disabilities in South Africa experienced many negative impacts of the pandemic. Strategies to control the virus largely ignored attending to human rights and socioeconomic well-being of this marginalised group.” (2023, African Journal of Disability)

How the pandemic lockdown affected mental health (2022, the Conversation)

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Bangladesh

Prevalence and factors associated with depression, anxiety, and stress among people with disabilities during COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh: A cross-sectional study.

“The prevalence was found to be 65.7% for depression, 78.5% for anxiety, and 61.4% for stress, respectively. Several factors were identified as associated with these mental health issues, including gender (male), marital status (being married), low education levels, multiple impairments, comorbid medical illnesses, poor sleep quality, rural residency, hearing disability, disability onset later in life, and testing positive for COVID-19.” (2023, Plos One)

The pandemic has exacerbated the challenges faced by persons with disabilities

'16-year-old Eemon, who has a visual disability, said, "We are very ill-fated that our education has come to a halt for the past two years." Eemon had to join a courier service as a worker to support his family, as other members faced income loss as a result of the pandemic. It is highly unlikely that he will go back to his much-loved school, even though schools have reopened.' (2021, The Daily Star)

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China

What did disabled youths experience at the peak of infection?
(In Chinese, 2023, We are a minority)

6 disabled people share their covid experiences (In Chinese, 2022)

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India

COVID-19, Persons with Disabilities and an (Un)Inclusive Healthcare System a study on access to healthcare services and vaccinations. (2022, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy)

Gasping to live again: A disabled person's account of barely surviving Covid:

“My oxygen is dipping. I have blacked out. When I wake up, the nurse is telling me I should lose weight. Am I going to survive? I must be. No one tells a dying person to lose weight, do they?” (2022, Unbias the News)

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Nepal

Adolescents with Disabilities and Caregivers Experience of COVID-19 in Rural Nepal (2023, IDS)

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Vietnam

Effect of COVID-19 on livelihoods of people with and without disabilities: Results from a cross-sectional survey in 3 urban areas of Viet Nam: “People with disabilities were three times more likely to have stopped working completely”. (Jul, Disability and Health Journal)

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Europe

An important collection of synthesis reports on COVID-19 and people with disabilities assessing the impact of the crisis and informing disability-inclusive next steps. (2022)

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Iceland

Risky Obliviousness Within Fragmented Services: Experiences of Families With Disabled Children During the Covid-19 Pandemic:

“During the pandemic, the gaps in the already fragmented services widened, and the families were left to navigate this new reality on their own. Preventive measures enforced by municipalities and healthcare services centred on non-disabled people’s experiences and needs. Unprepared service systems distanced themselves from the families while maintaining governance and supervision over defining their need for support.” (2023, Social Inclusion)

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Ireland

Professional and Family Carers’ Perspectives on the COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Impact on Supported Decision-Making with Adults with Intellectual Disabilities: A Qualitative Online Survey. (2023, Disabilities)

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Russia

“But We Are Always at Home”: Disability Activism, Solidarity, and Staying at Home. (2022, NYU Jordan Center)

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United Kingdom

Racism worsened Covid health outcomes for Black Disabled people “The Commission’s findings highlighted a number of issues including the difficulties faced by members of this community in accessing public health information, the government’s lack of engagement with Black Disabled people who the report says also experienced discrimination when accessing social services.” (2023, The Voice)

‘Government Just Made it Worse’: COVID’s Disproportionate Impact on Disabled People of Colour Revealed. (2023, Byline Times)

Covid-19 and the Crisis in Social Care: Exploring the Experiences of Disabled People in the Pandemic: “the social care crisis has challenged the goal of independent living.”. (2022, CUP)

COVID-19 pandemic impact on psychotropic prescribing for adults with intellectual disability: an observational study in English specialist community services: "The pandemic caused an increase in psychotropic prescribing associated with lockdown severity and urban settings." (2022, BJPsych)

Health and healthcare for people with disabilities in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic: “As the UK opens up, it is important that health care services and social policy address the poor mental health and social isolation of people with disability so that the inequalities occurring early in the pandemic do not become further entrenched.” (2022, Disability and Health Journal)

Documenting the Pandemic for Disabled people: Covid Disability Archive (2022)

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Canada

Outcomes in patients with and without disability admitted to hospital. "Patients with a disability who were admitted to hospital with COVID-19 had longer stays and elevated readmission risk than those without disabilities." (2022, CMAJ)

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United States

Long-COVID rate among disabled people double that of able-bodied:

“Over 40% of COVID-19 survivors who had disabilities before the pandemic had symptoms for 3 months or longer in 2022, compared with 19% of those without disabilities, further widening health disparities, finds a new report published in the American Journal of Public Health.” (Sep, CIDRAP)

A study on the COVID-19 “mortality burden” for people with and without intellectual and developmental disability. “The COVID-19 mortality burden was greater for people with than without IDD during the first year of the pandemic. The continued practice of postmortem diagnostic overshadowing prevents analyzing whether this difference continues through today.” (2022, Disability and Health Journal)

How Masking Changed My Experience of Being Deaf: “The pandemic forced me to communicate differently.” (2022, The Atlantic)

COVID continues to hit nursing homes harder, “Cases are surging everywhere, and nursing home residents remain more likely to face severe illness and death.” (2022, 19th News)

Covid is making more people disabled and exposing America's tattered safety net (2022, MSNBC)

"COVID-19 Likely Resulted in 1.2 Million More Disabled People by the End of 2021" More information would be needed to substantiate the claim about 1.2 million disabled people, as it’s not clear whether higher numbers are due to changes in individual circumstances or changes in the environment. (Thanks to Jennifer Madans for background on this., 2022, American Progress)

Employment Consequences of COVID-19 for People with Disabilities and Employers. "The pandemic adversely affected employment of PWD as reported by workers and employers. Findings parallel the experience of the non-disabled workforce, but reveal vulnerabilities that reflect disability consequences and the need for job accommodations." (2022, Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation)

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New Zealand

The essential numbers showing how disabled people experienced the pandemic:

“By 2022 disabled people’s high rates of vaccination, combined with self-isolation, meant this high-risk group were slightly less likely to get Covid-19 than non-disabled people. However, despite overall lower infection, they were still seven times more likely to die (11 deaths) and 3.5 times more likely to go to hospital.” (2023, The Spinoff)

Disabled were 13 times as likely to die from Covid-19. “People who received disability support services in 2022 were 13 times as likely to die from Covid-19 than the general population, new data shows.” (2023, Stuff)

How will disabled people cope with Omicron in the community? (2022, RNZ)

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