RESUMEN
People with functional disability endure barriers to health and other services and to full participation in social life. In the context of COVID-19, this discrimination has been intensified worldwide. We examine how the experience of COVID-19 lockdown was depicted in comments to a video about functional disability and COVID published on VICE's YouTube channel. We analysed the first 100 comments on the video, which was posted in spring 2020, during the first COVID-19 lockdown (roughly from March to June 2020, with some variations around the world). We identified four themes: lack of access to care and services, isolation and lifestyle changes, mental health consequences, and peer support. Legal regulations regarding COVID-19 and people with functional disability have not been sufficient in most countries. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed inadequate care systems, even in Western countries with advanced social protection policies.
Asunto(s)
COVID-19 , Medios de Comunicación Sociales , COVID-19/epidemiología , Control de Enfermedades Transmisibles , Humanos , Salud Mental , Pandemias/prevención & controlRESUMEN
The Coronavirus pandemic and associated measures for the protection of the public have impacted differently on different parts of the population and across different nations. In many areas, COVID-19 has also either exacerbated already existing or created new inequalities in relation to specific parts of the population. Older individuals are one group in society that has been widely impacted, while social isolation/shielding measures have placed them in higher risk of loneliness, isolation, financial deprivation and mental health challenges, to name a few. This commentary reflects on such inequalities across four European nations (the United Kingdom (UK), Republic of Ireland, Finland, Spain) and draws attention to the critical role of Gerontological Social Work (GSW), while emphasizing the ways in which social work can intervene. First, we identify common concerns for the rights of older people that span across all four nations, and second, we identify significant roles for GSW practitioners at the individual, community and policy levels and conclude with a call for GSW in these four nations to be reimagined in a time of global crisis.