Experiences of disabled people accessing health care during the COVID-19 pandemic
This project explores the experiences of people with disabilities in accessing health care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We believe that to facilitate positive change that benefits the disability community, people with disabilities should be central to the research.
This research is Funded by the Lottery Health Research Grant and explores the experiences of people with disabilities in accessing health care during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the possible short- and long-term impacts on their health outcomes.
To date we have conducted 60 interviews with a broad range of participants, who have lived experience with a variety of impairments and disabilities, and begun our analysis with initial findings being circulated. Our next step is to run a series of workshops. Through these workshops, people within the disability community will verify interview findings to ensure the analysis reflects the experiences of the wider disability community. At the workshops, people with disabilities will create a set of recommendations that they believe will improve the health and disability support system. We will use these recommendations in our final report to propose systemwide changes that can improve the health outcomes of people with disabilities in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The research is being done by a team of researchers with lived experience of disability and disability allies: Dr Solmaz Nazari Orakani, Professor Karen McBride-Henry, Dr Tara Officer, Dr Michael Roguski, and Dr Gretchen Good.
View an infographic of our initial findings.