According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a “respiratory disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2, a coronavirus discovered in 2019.” COVID-19 spreads from person to person through respiratory droplets and other small particles that are produced when a person with COVID-19 sneezes, coughs, or talks. It can spread rapidly in crowded or poorly ventilated indoor spaces and can range from mild to severe. Not everyone that is infected with COVID-19 may develop symptoms. Older adults over the age of 65 and anyone with an underlying condition, including some people with disabilities, are at higher risk for severe illness.
Some people with disabilities may be more likely to have a more severe reaction to COVID-19 because of underlying conditions, systemic health and social inequities, or because they live in congregate settings such as group homes. People with and without disabilities that have underlying chronic medical conditions, such as cardiopulmonary diseases, serious heart conditions, or weakened immune systems, also seem to be more likely to get severely ill from COVID-19.
Shortly after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, NIDILRR-funded projects began producing resources to support people with disabilities, caregivers, and practitioners as they experienced reduced access to services and supports in the community. These included consumer products such as webinars, factsheets, and videos, among others. More recently, NIDILRR grantees have begun to explore the impact of COVID-19 on people with disabilities, such as changes in community participation, health, employment, and economic status.
Below, you will find a few examples of these evidence-based consumer products produced by the NIDILRR grantee community:
- The Learning and Working During the Transition to Adulthood Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (Transitions ACR) develops and shares new knowledge about core concepts, interventions, and policies to greatly improve the transition to employment for youth and young adults with serious mental health conditions. This center has produced several evidence-based factsheets to assist youth and young adults with serious mental health conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic:
- Finishing college classes during COVID-19 offers information and tips to help college students with mental health conditions during the pandemic. The factsheet also provides strategies to help them organize and get work done, along with a list of online resources that support these youth.
- Maintaining Your Emotional Wellness During COVID-19 offers suggestions for reducing stress and finding balance during the pandemic, along with links to organizations and online resources.
- How young adults can manage loss of income during the COVID-19 pandemic provides some ideas and resources to help young adults with disabilities to manage loss of income because they have lost their job or are getting less pay due to the current COVID-19 pandemic.
- The tipsheet, Working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic: Tips and strategies to maintain productivity and connectedness, offers suggestions for successfully working from home due COVID-19.
- The Great Lakes ADA Regional Center promotes awareness and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and provides high-quality, timely, and accurate technical assistance, training, and material dissemination to a diverse set of audiences. This center produced a webinar, COVID-19 and the ADA: Implications for Title II and Post-Secondary Education, which laid out the basics for analyzing how the ADA applies to the current pandemic and explored a variety of issues including voting, effective communication, emergency preparedness, public transportation, modifications to programs and services offered by local and state government agencies, and public health issues, among other topics.
- The Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) on Promoting Healthy Aging for People with Long-Term Physical Disabilities identifies factors at the intersection of the person and environment that impede or support positive health and function outcomes and creates solutions that improve the fit between the two. This RRTC published a brief, Disability and telehealth since the COVID-19 pandemic: Barriers, opportunities, and policy implications, that describe barriers to and opportunities for telehealth for people with disabilities, as well as the potential national and state policies to make telehealth more accessible, functional, and supportive beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
- NARIC’s COVID-19 Special Collection features the NIDILRR-funded evidence-based products that support the continued independence and participation of people with disabilities and their families, and the professionals who work with them. This collection also includes abstracts of peer-reviewed research investigating the impact of the pandemic on participation, health, and employment. NARIC’s staff actively collect these resources as they are published. This list continues to grow, so check back frequently! This collection is also available in Spanish, however not all products indexed in the collection may be published in Spanish.
To learn more about these and other products from the NIDILRR community, contact NARIC’s information specialists.
Collection Spotlight from the National Rehabilitation Information Center 