People with disabilities in the COVID era

Viorel Agheana; Doru Vlad Popovici

doi:10.56663/rop.v10i1.12

Authors

Viorel Agheana University of Bucharest
Doru Vlad Popovici University of Bucharest

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.56663/rop.v10i1.12

Keywords:

people with disabilities, COVID-19, pandemic, accessibility, inclusiveness

Abstract

People with disabilities are prone to health problems and face discrimination and stigma and these problems were exacerbated during the COVID-19 epidemic. People with disabilities have an increased risk of contracting COVID-19 for several reasons, including due to difficulties in using basic protection measures and the need to comply with the requirements set for social distancing, and the risk of death due to COVID is estimated for persons with disabilities as being approximately double that of persons without disabilities. The society's response to the COVID-19 pandemic should also include disability as concern, protection of the rights and needs of people with disabilities, as provided for in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainability and Development.

Author Biographies

Viorel Agheana, University of Bucharest

Lecturer PhD. Viorel Agheană has a PhD in Educational Sciences and is a member of the Department of Special Psychopedagogy, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Bucharest, since 2013. Areas of academic expertise include language disorder therapy, research methodology, children's rights and inclusive education. He has over 15 years of experience in special education as a teacher and speech therapist in many pre-university institutions, and has participated in numerous national and international projects as a member or coordinator. Viorel Agheana is also a researcher with experience in language disorders, special education and the recovery of children with intellectual disabilities. Author and co-author of studies, chapters in collective volumes, articles in specialized journals, papers at national and international symposia and conferences, generally addressing topics related to special education and topics that approach different methods of education from a theoretical and practical applied perspective.

Doru Vlad Popovici, University of Bucharest

Prof. Dr. Emerit Hab.DORU VLAD POPOVICI is the director of the Psychopedagogy of the Inclusive School master's program at Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Bucharest. He headed the Department of Special Psychopedagogy at the same faculty as director between 2008 and 2020 and is chairman of the National Advisory Commission for Special Education at the Ministry of Education and Research (since 2016), evaluator of UNICEF programs, authorized evaluator for NGO activity, former member of the Commission of Educational Psychology and Vocational Counseling and the Steering Committee of the Romanian College of Psychologists in several terms, senior psychologist with the right of professional supervision for the field Special Psychopedagogy and member of the Editorial Board of Review of Psychopedagogy. His areas of interest are: integrated education of students with SEN (special educational needs), educational inclusion of gifted, polyhandicap therapy, occupational therapy of people with SEN, development of communication in children with disabilities and augmentative communication strategies.

References

Landes, S.D., Stevens, D. & Turk, M.A. (2020) COVID-19 and pneumonia: Increased risk for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities during the pandemic, Research Brief 21, Lerner Center for Public Health promotion, Maxwell Syracuse University, New York.

UNICEF, COVID-19 response: Considerations for Children and Adults with Disabilities: https://www.mhinnovation.net/sites/default/files/downloads/resource/COVID-19%20response%20considerations%20for%20people%20with%20disabilities_190320.pdf.

Henderson, A., Fleming, M., Cooper, S.A., et al. (2021). COVID-19 infection and outcomes in a population-based cohort of 17,173 adults with intellectual disabilities compared with the general population.medRxiv.

Pineda, V.S. & Corburn, J. (2020) Disability, urban health equity, and the coronavirus pandemic: Promoting cities for all’, Journal of Urban Health, 97, 1–6.

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