Tag: health disparities

17.4 Million disabled adults experience frequent mental distress #AbleismHurts #MentalHealthMatters The National Center for Disability, Equity, and Intersectionality

Exploring the Intersection of Disability and Mental Health

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Author: Alexandra Wong

How does being disabled impact one’s mental health?

Image of Zandy Wong- she has shoulder length black hair, is wearing a green shirt and is smiling

As a person with a disability, it can be tough to mentally cope with the struggles of being disabled. For those newly disabled, there is sometimes a process of grieving what has been lost and what new limitations there are in their lives (Moser, 2022). On top of that, people with disabilities often face challenges accessing education, healthcare, and transportation, preventing them from accessing vital services that allow them to live a full life. These challenges include lack of captioning on videos, inaccessible entrances, and inaccessible medical equipment (Kapsalis et al., 2024; Pharr, 2013; USU, n.d.). Additionally, people with disabilities have trouble gaining meaningful employment in their communities. People with disabilities had an unemployment rate of 7.2%, twice as high as the rate experienced by people without disabilities (Andara et al., 2024). The reasons cited for this include difficulty finding a job that offers the accommodations to make it possible to work and the difficulties finding a job suitable for their skill sets (Andara et al., 2024). As a result, they lack a major method to make an income and live independently. 

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Text: New Blog Post. "Time Lost to Disability Management is a Health Inequity.' by Annie Carver, Esq. Image of a clock with thousands of little clocks coming out of it. The National Center for Disability, Equity, and Intersectionality logo

Time Lost to Disability Management is a Health Inequity 

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by: Annie Carver, Esq. 

“Health inequities are difference in health status or the distribution of health resources between different populations or groups arising from the social condition in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age.” There are many health inequities that are associated with disability – caused by stigma, discrimination, poverty, exclusion from education and employment, and other barriers within the healthcare system. One health inequity that is rarely named for people with disabilities is lost time, or the time cost associated with being disabled. There is a time cost associated with navigating welfare and healthcare systems, coordinating medical care, and managing personal care and symptoms. On top of that, public inaccessibility and legal barriers isolate disabled people from their greater community; therefore, disabled people often have to navigate the complicated coordination of their care without the support system that many non-disabled people enjoy. These time barriers also tend to disproportionately impact those with multiply marginalized identities, particularly people of color and queer people. 

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