Community participation disparities among people with disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jessica Kersey, Rachel Lane, Emily A Kringle and 1 others
PMID 38832579WHAT IT FOUND
People with disabilities faced larger gaps in employment, income and education than others.
Disabled Black and Hispanic/Latino adults had the largest disparities. Disabled people were more likely to attend in-person medical appointments, possibly because remote options were less accessible.
Key findings
01People with disabilities had significantly worse outcomes in most community participation areas compared to those without disabilities, with the largest absolute disparities in lack of recent paid work and low household income.
02Disabled Black and Hispanic/Latino respondents experienced particularly large disparities in economic participation, such as reduced education plans and low income, compared to White nondisabled adults.
03People with disabilities were more likely to have accessed in-person medical care and less likely to tele-work, suggesting remote options may have been less accessible to them.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Disability was self-reported based on functional difficulty, not clinical diagnosis, which may inflate reporting compared to other datasets. The study is cross-sectional and cannot determine causality or changes over time. Black and Hispanic/Latino groups were under-represented in the survey, meaning the reported disparities for these groups may be underestimated. Only one phase of data collection included both disability and broad community participation indicators, limiting the ability to track trends throughout the pandemic.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the higher rate of in-person medical appointments among people with disabilities as a sign of better healthcare access. The authors suggest this may reflect a lack of accessible remote options, forcing people into in-person activities despite higher health risks.