The Office for National Statistics (ONS) have released research, launched June 2020, into the social impacts of Covid-19 on disabled people in Great Britain.
It contains data from a new module of the ONS’ Opinions and Lifestyle survey aimed at understanding the impacts of Covid-19 on British society.
The findings included:
- In May, just under 74% of disabled adults reported they were “very worried” or “somewhat worried” about the effect that the coronavirus was having on their life, compared to 69% for non-disabled adults.
- A higher proportion of disabled people than non-disabled people were worried about the effects of the pandemic on their well being, their access to groceries, medication and essentials, their access to healthcare, and their health.
- Concerns about well-being were most frequent among those with mental health and socio-behavioural related conditions, and concerns aroudn access to essentials were most frequent among those with hearing or dexterity related conditions.
- Disabled people’s average anxiety increased following the outbreak to a high in April, before falling in May, though the most recent level reported was still much higher than the pre-covid average.