Pandemic Lockdowns, Closures Tough on People With Disabilities
Researchers studying these impacts interviewed more than 950 people with different disabilities. They identified four categories of individuals within the disability community with varying levels of impact, with the most affected group known as "heavily affected".
People with neuromuscular disabilities, blindness or low vision, and / or cognitive or intellectual disabilities were more likely in this group. This severely affected group comprised approximately 39 percent of study participants, many of them veterans and women. where to buy active substance/clenbuterol
"People in the heavily affected group indicated that they weren't engaging in physical activity at all or that their participation was significantly curtailed by the pandemic safety restrictions," said study first author Jules Woolf, professor of recreation, sports and tourism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
"These participants scored significantly lower on well-being indicators such as life satisfaction, self-efficacy, quality of life and overall health than their peers in the other three groups we identified. They also experienced greater loneliness and depression," he said. in a university press release.
Those in this group suffered the most negative impacts on their mental and physical well-being than peers who were able to continue their pre-pandemic activities or adapt new ones, Woolf said.
"People with particular types of disabilities, rare or multiple disabilities, may require more assistance or additional accommodations that require close contact and are incompatible with social distancing policies," he said.
The team used six different scales to assess participants' mental health and well-being, quality of life, satisfaction with their physical health, frequency of feeling lonely or depressed, self-esteem, and overall life satisfaction.
Just over half of the respondents had problems with mobility, loss or deficiency of the limbs, 16% had neuromuscular problems and 11% had brain injuries. About 59% of the study participants were male. About a third were veterans.
Study participants who remained active engaged in various outdoor aerobic sports activities such as walking, running and wheelchair pushing to cycling, weight lifting, target sports, boxing, golf, and water sports such as swimming and kayaking.
People in the resilient group reported the highest quality of life and overall health. These individuals made up about 21% of the respondents. According to the findings, they had less impact on the types of activities they engaged in and the amount of time they spent doing them.
In comparison, the adapted group, which accounted for approximately 27 percent of study participants, changed the type of activity they engaged in and participated virtually, in person or alone.
The radically changed group discovered new physical activities, particularly those they could do on their own, including running, walking, and online activities. This was more than 12% of the total participants.
The researchers found that people's mental health and well-being scores in the radically changed and adapted groups were comparable across all outcomes.
However, even for those who have managed to overcome the restrictions of the pandemic, the results have not always been beneficial to their mental health.
"This was seen with the radically changed group and their higher frequency of depression than the resilient group," Woolf noted. "One possible explanation is that the radically changed group tended to engage in activities alone and virtually this may have contributed to feelings of isolation."
The researchers said it is crucial to understand how public policies related to major events like COVID-19 affect people with disabilities and to develop targeted promotions to them.
The findings were recently published in the Leisure Studies journal.
