To inform the field of rehabilitation psychology about the impacts of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) on the disability community in the United States and the additional sources of stress and trauma disabled people face during these times. A review of the literature on disability and COVID-19 is provided, with an emphasis on sources of trauma and stress that disproportionately impact the disability community and the ways in which disability intersects with other marginalized identities in the context of trauma and the pandemic. We also reflect on the potential impacts on the field of psychology and the ways in which psychologists, led by rehabilitation psychologists, can support disabled clients and the broader disability community at both the individual client and systemic levels. The COVID-19 pandemic introduces unique potential sources of trauma and stress within the disability community, including concerns about health care rationing and ableism in health care, isolation, and the deaths and illnesses of loved ones and community members. Rehabilitation psychologists and other professionals should be aware of the potential for trauma and stress among disabled clients and work with them to mitigate its effects. Additionally, psychologists should also work with the disability community and disabled colleagues to address systemic and institutional ableism and its intersections with other forms of oppression. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
1 June 2021 in Primary Care: Clinics in Office Practice
The prevalence of both bilingual children and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is growing rapidly, and early childhood educators may be increasingly likely to encounter bilingual children with ASD in their classrooms. Because ASD significantly affects communication, many parents and professionals may have questions or concerns about the impact of bilingualism on language development in children with ASD. The present article presents a systematic review of the literature comparing monolingual to bilingual development in children with ASD. Seven articles were included, covering a wide variety of languages and involving predominantly young, simultaneously bilingual children with ASD. Results generally showed small, varied differences in both receptive and expressive language outcomes for bilingual and monolingual children with ASD, thus providing tentative support for the idea that bilingualism does not have a consistent or large negative effect on language development in children with ASD. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
Objective/Purpose: The objective of this article is to provide information about the ways in which the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may affect the ongoing public health issue of violence against people with disabilities and how rehabilitation psychologists and other providers can address these concerns in their practice. This article reviews the literature on violence against people with disabilities as well as emerging literature on the COVID-19 pandemic and its social and medical consequences. The COVID-19 pandemic magnifies existing issues and barriers facing people with disabilities who are experiencing interpersonal violence. These issues include reliance on the perpetrator for care and assistance, barriers to reporting abuse and seeking help, fear of retaliation and other negative consequences if abuse is reported, emotional abuse related to disability, and exacerbation of secondary physical and mental health sequalae of abuse. The COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences enhance the already increased risk for abuse among people with disabilities. Providers who work with individuals with disabilities should address these issues at both the individual client and systems levels. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
In addition the general stressors occurring as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, individuals who are members of marginalized racial or ethnic minority groups in the United States may face additional stressors, such as pandemic-related, racially-based prejudice and discrimination and the magnification of pre-existing health disparities and their effects. Such stressors may increase pandemic-related and general health risks both directly and indirectly and increase the risk for both general and traumatic stress. These stressors and their historical and social contexts are discussed, and implications for clinicians are provided.
1 August 2020 in Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy
Discriminatory and ableist health care rationing policies have raised serious concern in the disability community during the novel coronavirus pandemic. These concerns reflect the long-standing devaluation of disabled lives and place considerable weight on the disability community during this already stressful time. Nondisabled psychologists should work to advocate for the rights of people with disabilities by amplifying the voices and concerns of disabled activists so that history does not repeat itself. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).