COVID-19
This page features disability news on COVID-19 from the Debrief Library. See also news on other subjects.
Impact
International
Spaces of Exclusion and Neglect: The Impact of COVID-19 on People With Disabilities in Bangladesh, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, and Uganda. (Mar, Space and Culture)
An issue of Social Inclusion journal dedicated to Disability and Lessons from the Pandemic. (Jan, 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.” (Aug, 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. (Jul, Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness)
Millions of older people have died without being counted. WHO estimates 83% of excess mortality was among older people. (May, 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.” (Mar, UN Women)
Bangladesh
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.' (Dec, The Daily Star)
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." (Jan, CMAJ)
China
What did disabled youths experience at the peak of infection?
(In Chinese, Jan, We are a minority)
6 disabled people share their covid experiences (In Chinese, Dec)
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.” (Sep, International Journal of Mental Health Systems)
Europe
An important collection of synthesis reports on COVID-19 and people with disabilities assessing the impact of the crisis and informing disabiliyt-inclusive next steps. (Jul)
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.” (Jan, Social Inclusion)
India
COVID-19, Persons with Disabilities and an (Un)Inclusive Healthcare System a study on access to healthcare services and vaccinations. (Oct, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy)
Gasping to live again: A disabled person's account of barely surviving Covid:
“When you live on the margins, you perennially face the threat of deletion. You never know who is redrawing the map: the government, the society or a global pandemic. The last two years have been a heady concoction of panic and anxiety for disabled and chronically ill people like me.”
“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?” (Aug, Unbias the News)
New Zealand
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.” (Mar, Stuff)
Russia
“But We Are Always at Home”: Disability Activism, Solidarity, and Staying at Home. (Dec, NYU Jordan Center)
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.” (Feb, African Journal of Disability)
How the pandemic lockdown affected mental health (Aug, the Conversation)
United Kingdom
‘Government Just Made it Worse’: COVID’s Disproportionate Impact on Disabled People of Colour Revealed. (Feb, Byline Times)
Documenting the Pandemic for Disabled people: Covid Disability Archive
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.”. (Apr, CUP)
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.” (Jan, Disability and Health Journal)
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." (Jan, BJPsych)
United States
How Masking Changed My Experience of Being Deaf: “The pandemic forced me to communicate differently.” (Sep, The Atlantic)
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.” (October, Disability and Health Journal)
COVID continues to hit nursing homes harder, “Cases are surging everywhere, and nursing home residents remain more likely to face severe illness and death.” (Jul, 19th News)
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." (Jan, Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation)
"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., Feb, American Progress)
Response
International
The inclusion of disability and ageing in COVID-19 hygiene behavior change interventions across low-and middle-income countries: A review using the COVID-19 Inclusive WASH Checklist. “Most organizations identified people with disabilities, older adults and caregivers as target groups, but targeted activities to include them were scarce. Where efforts were made, immediate needs rather than rights were addressed.” (Nov, Frontiers Public Health)
Rising to the challenge: disability organisations in the COVID-19 pandemic (Aug, Disability and Society)
For Canadians with disabilities, multiple types of support were important during COVID-19. (Sep, the Conversation)
After 2 Years of Covid, We’re Still Failing Older People. Part of a series marking the two year anniversary of the Covid-19 pandemic:
"Two years after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, governments around the world are still failing to protect the rights of older people. From ageist comments by public figures to persistent staffing shortages and use of chemical restraints in care homes, the protection of older people’s rights has been put under the spotlight like never before -- and comes up lacking." (Mar, Human Rights Watch)
Key Concepts: Human Rights and the Economy a series on human rights on the economic recovery from the COVID crisis. (Not about disability - but maybe useful context, Feb, CESR)
The Global Platform Reader on COVID-19 and older people in low and middle-income countries (link to pdf, Jan, Corona Older)
An evidence brief on How can health and social care services promote the safety and well-being of people with intellectual disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic in LMICs? (Nov, Disability Evidence)
Africa
Challenges and Opportunities for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in the COVID-19 Response “A limited number of recommended MHPSS activities during the COVID-19 pandemic were planned in countries across Africa, with an even smaller proportion being actually implemented. The implementation level of MHPSS activities was below 50% in most countries. [...] It is critical to build on this to integrate mental health into emergency preparedness and response and strengthen mental health systems in the long term in the post-pandemic world.” (Jul, Environmental Research and Public Health)
Australia
Living with COVID-19 in the time of OMICRON: Escalating risks for people with disability in Australia and recommendations how to address them. (Jan, Centre of Research Excellence in Disability and Health)
People with disability 'completely overlooked' as Omicron surges (Dec)
Bangladesh
Jobseekers with disabilities left out of Covid recovery plans (Dec, Dhaka Tribune)
Canada
Quebecers with disabilities struggle with rapid tests, say advocates after the province ran out of PCR tests for the general public. (Jan, CBC)
Accessibility of Canadian COVID-19 Testing Locations for People with Disabilities During the Third Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: "more than a year into the pandemic, there existed a clear lack of accessibility information for Canadian testing locations for people with disabilities." (Dec, MedRxiv)
China
Shanghai Covid lockdown: The struggle of blind massage therapists (Jul, BBC)
310,000 seniors living alone in Shanghai and young people who help them (in Chinese, Apr, QQ)
Ethiopia
COVID-19 and social policy in contexts of existing inequality: experiences of youth with disabilities. “The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the marginalisation of adolescents and young people with disabilities [...] as health, education and social protection systems have been slow to mobilise targeted support and address social exclusion.” (Jun, Disability and Society)
Germany
German Court Orders Protection of People with Disabilities in Triage Decisions
'The court found the legislature had failed “to take measures to ensure that no one is at risk of being disadvantaged on the basis of disability in the allocation of life-sustaining treatment if shortages in intensive care resources arise.” The court ordered lawmakers to introduce stronger measures based on the constitutional right to nondiscrimination. They should consider disability rights training for medical staff and the creation of stronger procedures to identify disabilities.'
See also the statement from the court or coverage on the guardian (Jan, Human Rights Watch)
Jordan
COVID-19 and social policy in contexts of existing inequality: experiences of youth with disabilities. “The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the marginalisation of adolescents and young people with disabilities [...] as health, education and social protection systems have been slow to mobilise targeted support and address social exclusion.” (Jun, Disability and Society)
Middle East and North Africa
Disability inclusion in health responses to COVID-19 in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: results of a rapid assessment (Dec, WHO EMRO)
New Zealand
The daily, grinding tragedy of Covid-19 “By unilaterally disarming in the fight against the coronavirus, the Government is exposing New Zealanders to the very serious ongoing health burden of Covid-19.” (Sep, Newsroom)
Mixed response from disability advocates over Covid welfare support funding. (Jun, Stuff)
Reporting on an inquiry into how government response to the Omicron wave impacted disabled people: they "do not appear to have been given prominence in government policy and decision making," (May, RNZ)
Ministry of Health 'so far removed from the day-to-day lives of disabled people' (Mar, RNZ)
'Oh well, we'll all get it' attitude to Omicron ignores increased risk to people with disabilities (Mar, Stuff)
Philippines
Supporting OPDs Covid-19 response: reflections from the Philippines (Dec, CBM Australia)
South Africa
Disabled people moved because of Covid are living in filthy conditions (Oct, Ground Up)
Experiences of Organisations of (or That Serve) Persons with Disabilities during the COVID-19 Pandemic and National Lockdown. “The findings demonstrate that the South African government failed to ensure targeted support to organisations of persons with disabilities. A remarkable feature of the organisations we interviewed for this small study was their agility in responding creatively to the challenges they faced, despite the difficulties.” (Oct, Environmental Research and Public Health)
Spain
Plena Inclusión demands a plan to protect persons with intellectual disabilities in the face of the Omicron wave. (Dec, Discapnet)
Sweden
Evaluation of science advice during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden “Many elderly people were administered morphine instead of oxygen despite available supplies, effectively ending their lives.” (Mar, Humanities and Social Sciences Communications)
Uganda
The response to Covid-19 in Northern Uganda should be disability-inclusive. A report on a research project between June 21 to August 22. (Dec, University of Bristol)
United Kingdom
‘They gave her a bed to die in’: family of woman with Down’s Syndrome denied intensive care seek answers from Covid-19 inquiry. (Jul, the Guardian)
Disabled people are being left out of COVID recovery. “Here are five ways to change that” (Apr, the Conversation)
‘Completely Inhumane’: Government’s Relaxed Approach to COVID Represents a Regression for Disabled People’s Rights (Mar, Byline Times)
United States
What to Do if You Have COVID A guide for preparing for illness, preventing spread to others, managing symptoms, and recovery (Jan, People's CDC)
Biden declaring the pandemic over disregards the danger disabled Americans face and “has shown how easily it is willing to view people with disabilities as pesky asterisks.” (Sep, MSNBC)
The Pandemic’s Legacy Is Already Clear: All of this will happen again. “America has little chance of effectively countering the inevitable pandemics of the future; it cannot even focus on the one that’s ongoing.”
“The new coronavirus exploited the country’s many failing systems: its overstuffed prisons and understaffed nursing homes; its chronically underfunded public-health system; its reliance on convoluted supply chains and a just-in-time economy; its for-profit health-care system, whose workers were already burned out; its decades-long project of unweaving social safety nets; and its legacy of racism and segregation that had already left Black and Indigenous communities and other communities of color disproportionately burdened with health problems.” (Sep, The Atlantic)
People with Disabilities and COVID-19 Economic Impact Payments “Persons with disabilities were significantly more likely to spend their checks on basic needs, like food and rent, and less likely to spend on second-order items like charity or savings. These results suggest that future stimulus efforts should consider an increased amount for persons with disabilities.” (May, Journal of Poverty)
The White House releases a plan to help people who are especially vulnerable to Covid-19. (Feb, NYT)
Disabled Deaths Are Not Your “Encouraging News” '“Comorbidities” is a weaselly, cruel, violent word.' (Jan, Disability Visibility Project)
A letter to the health authorities responding to CDC comments that had referred to the deaths of those 'unwell to begin with': "The public health response to COVID-19 has treated people with disabilities as disposable." See more on Huffpost (link to pdf, Jan, coalition of disability organizations)
High-Risk Pandemic Stories: A Syllabus. "We are not alone" (Jan, Disability Visibility Project)
Biden and CDC's Covid-19 variant guidelines "have disabled people feeling left for dead" (Jan, MSNBC)
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commissions details when COVID-19 can be a disability including if you get fired because of having symptoms of COVID-19 (Dec, The Hill)
Vaccination
Australia
Predictors of vaccine hesitancy among disability support workers in Australia. A survey showed that 50% of disability support workers were vaccine hesitant. (Sep, Disability and Health)
Australian vaccine contractor prioritises aged care "NDIS participant vaccine rates remain lower than general population" (Jan, the Guardian)
Bangladesh
Directives to hold special Covid-19 vaccination drive for people with disability (Jan, The Business Standard)
United Kingdom
Booster jabs are vital – why is it so difficult for clinically vulnerable people to access them? (Dec, the Guardian)
Living with COVID
International
What Makes Brain Fog So Unforgiving “Brain fog isn’t like a hangover or depression. It’s a disorder of executive function that makes basic cognitive tasks absurdly hard.” (Sep)
Long covid sufferers share stories of chronic fatigue, other symptoms. Five profiles from around the world. (Aug, Washington Post)
If You’re Suffering After Being Sick With Covid It’s Not Just in Your Head. After the 1918-19 influenza pandemic:
‘Many who survived became enervated and depressed. They developed tremors and nervous complications. Similar waves of illness had followed the 1889 pandemic, with one report noting thousands “in debt and unable to work” and another describing people left “pale, listless and full of fears.”’ (Aug, NYT)
Long covid could change the way we think about disability (Jun, Washington Post)
Many Long COVID Patients Identify as Disabled and Feelings Are Complicated (May, Verywell Mind)
Pandemics disable people — the history lesson that policymakers ignore Why the complacency over possible long-term effects of COVID-19? (Feb, Nature)
Canada
COVID concerns of disabled people multiply as health protocols lifted (Mar, Policy Options Politiques)
High-risk Canadians feel forgotten as rules lift: “Can't we have lives too?” (Mar, CTV News)
Chronic exhaustion, derailed lives and no way out. This is long COVID. (Jan, Maclean's)
India
Covid scare keeps blind students away from school (Jul, Deccan Herald)
New Zealand
For those of us with disabilities, lockdown won’t end as long as Covid strategies leave us behind (Dec, the Guardian)
Norway
When you talk about "those who are going to die from something anyway" then you are talking about me. "Aren't I, a human being, worth more than the local pub?" (in Norwegian, google translate makes sense, Jan)
United Kingdom
Two-thirds of UK workers with long Covid have faced unfair treatment, says report (based on survey of 3,000). (Mar, the Guardian)
Living with long Covid series exploring the “millions of lives impacted by long Covid” (Oct, the Guardian)
Doctors with long Covid say they have been denied disability benefits. (Jun, the Guardian)
Alarm after EHRC says long Covid should not be treated as disability (May, the Guardian)
United States
Long Covid disabled them. Then they met a 'broken' Social Security disability process. (Mar, CNN Business)
The Long COVID Survival Guide How to Take Care of Yourself and What Comes Next, a “patient-to-patient guide for people wliving with long COVID”. (Nov, Experiment Publishing)
Long COVID Has Forced the U.S. to Take Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Seriously. “At best, most medical professionals know nothing about ME/CFS [myalgic encephalomyelitis, or chronic fatigue syndrome]; at worst, they tell patients that their symptoms are psychosomatic, anxiety-induced, or simply signs of laziness. [...] Every ME/CFS patient I’ve talked with predicted long COVID’s arrival well before most doctors or even epidemiologists started catching up.” (Sep, The Atlantic) See also Ed Yong's reflections on reporting on long COVID and other chronic illnesses in a sensitive way.
Long Covid is keeping millions out of work “Fixing the labor shortage means treating, accommodating and mitigating long Covid. It also requires building a society in which disabled people can participate.” (Sep, the Guardian)
Long Covid keeps millions of Americans out of workforce. Recent research estimates that 2 to 4 million people are out of work due to Covid symptoms after the infection period. (Aug, CNBC)
Black Covid long-haulers say doctors dismissed their symptoms, so now they’re relying on one another for support. (Aug, NBC News)
Biden's long Covid plan is a good start. But it needs to go further. (Aug, Stat)
Rest May Be the Best Treatment for Long COVID. Our Disability Policies Should Reflect That. “The continuing crisis around long COVID should inspire policymakers to embrace a more flexible frame of reference around what it means to be disabled, and to design more generous short-term disability policies, including a federal short-term disability benefit. Allowing long haulers to rest in the short term might help them avoid years or decades of significant, often disabling long-term health consequences.” (Jul, TCF)
Many try to return to normal from COVID, but disabled people face a different reality “All we're really asking for is for a masking policy that will allow us to be able to go to the store, to go to the doctor, go get the mail, without risking [our health],” (Jul, NPR)
Long Covid Is Showing Up in the Employment Data (Jun, Washington Post)
Patients with long covid symptoms face tough disability benefit fights: "Patients and doctors say safety net is unprepared for novel claims stemming from the pandemic". (Mar, Washington Post)
The Millions of People Stuck in Pandemic Limbo 'Each individual infection is its own high-stakes gamble. [...] Over the past year, as many Americans reveled in their restored freedoms, many immunocompromised people felt theirs shrinking.':
'As the coronavirus moves from a furious boil to a gentle simmer, many immunocompromised people (like everyone else) hope to slowly expand their life again. But right now, “it’s like asking someone who cannot swim to jump into the ocean instead of trying a pool,” [...]'
'Beyond equitable access to treatments, the people I spoke with mostly want structural changes—better ventilation standards, widespread availability of tests, paid sick leave, and measures to improve vaccination rates. Above all else, they want flexibility, in both private and public spaces. That means remote-work and remote-school options, but also mask mandates for essential spaces such as grocery stores and pharmacies [...] But in terms of what individual people can do for them, the most common request I heard was: Just have a heart. Regardless of your own choices, don’t jeer at us for being mindful of our higher risks, and definitely don’t tell us that our lives are worth less.' (Feb, The Atlantic)
At-Home Coronavirus Tests Are Inaccessible to Blind People: “It’s your personal health information, you should be the first to know." (Jan, NYT)
What Does ‘Living With Covid-19’ Mean For Disabled And Chronically Ill People? A useful balanced view of pessimistic and hopeful outcomes. (Dec, Forbes)