"Research across a variety of disciplines has documented disproportionate negative impacts on employment, overall quality of life, rates of mental health symptoms, and mortality for people with disabilities compared to their able-bodied peers. But many people with disabilities also entered the pandemic with certain experiences that made them better prepared for the upheavals those years brought to everyone. For example, many people with disabilities already had practice with adapting to lockdown-type conditions, including experience with masking and with online communication,"
"A new study we conducted provides evidence that it wasn't only the life experiences of people with disabilities that prepared them for the pandemic but also their distinctive way of making sense of their lives. We followed a sample of 108 American adults with disabilities over the first three years of the pandemic, from the fall of 2020 through the fall of 2022. In addition to collecting data about their psychological well-being, we also collected their stories."
People with disabilities experienced disproportionate negative impacts during the COVID-19 pandemic across employment, quality of life, mental health symptoms, and mortality. Many had preexisting experience adapting to lockdown-like conditions, such as masking and online communication, which eased some pandemic disruptions. A sample of 108 American adults with disabilities was followed from fall 2020 through fall 2022, yielding more than 950 stories of high points, low points, and salient disability moments. Those narratives emphasized interdependence rather than American cultural ideals of independence, reflecting a distinctive way of making sense of life that supported coping and resilience amid pandemic upheavals.
Read at Psychology Today
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