The COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected global healthcare access and exacerbated pre-pandemic structural barriers. Literature on disabled people’s experiences accessing healthcare is limited, with even less framing healthcare access as a human rights issue. This study documents and critically analyses Deaf people’s healthcare access experiences in Aotearoa New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic. Eleven self-identified Deaf individuals participated in semi-structured videoconferencing interviews. Discourse analysis was applied to participant narratives with discourses juxtaposed against a human rights analysis. Barriers influencing healthcare access included: (1) the inability of healthcare providers to communicate appropriately, including a rigid adherence to face mask use; (2) cultural insensitivity and limited awareness of Deaf people’s unique needs; and (3) the impact of ableist assumptions and healthcare delaying care. Barriers to healthcare access represent consecutive breaches of rights guaranteed under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Such breaches delay appropriate healthcare access and risk creating future compounding effects. Action is required to address identified breaches: (1) The CRPD should also underpin all health policy and practice development, inclusive of pandemic and disaster management responsiveness. (2) Health professionals and support staff should be trained, and demonstrate competency, in Deaf cultural awareness and sensitivity.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted healthcare and support services, creating challenges for disabled people. New Zealand implemented a range of policies to prevent and limit viral transmission of COVID-19. This study investigates disabled people’s experiences accessing healthcare and disability support services during the COVID-19 pandemic, and based on this analysis, the implications of public health policy decisions on disabled people’s experiences during the pandemic in New Zealand are explicated. A qualitative design underpinned by interpretive description methodology guided this study. A total of 64 disabled people or parents of disabled children participated in semi-structured interviews. The team of health services and disability researchers then engaged in an iterative thematic approach to analysis, which led to three key themes: (1) protective personal factors, which assisted disabled people to access healthcare and support services, (2) immediate pandemic policy impacts, including policy and legislative changes, which created additional access barriers for disabled people, and (3) exacerbating factors, including compounding vulnerabilities, overstretched systems, and the impact of the vaccine mandate, which worsened the already limited access to healthcare and disability services for disabled people. The pandemic overwhelmed an already stretched healthcare and disability support system, resulting in service disruptions with negative consequences for disabled people’s health and wellbeing. Future policy development needs to be disability-centred in its inclusion of people with lived experience and consideration of the support needs of disabled populations. A first step in this process could include pandemic planning and policy co-design to ensure a continuum of healthcare services and support availability for individuals when services are disrupted. In addition, access to formal and informal support for disabled people should be recognised as a fundamental human right when accessing healthcare and disability support services.

Despite inclusionary policies in New Zealand, the existing socio-cultural and political systems continue to reinforce non-disabled privilege in the sports and physical activity environment. Bolstered by neoliberal ableist attitudes, concepts and practices, this non-disabled privilege excludes individuals whose bodily capabilities do not fit hypothetical able-bodied norms and standards. This paper explores neoliberal ableist attitudes and practices that contribute to non-disabled privilege and create barriers to disabled young people participating in sports and active recreation. In addition, the paper examines anti-ableist attitudes, informed by human rights, that challenge this privilege. We used Q methodology with 40 participants – physical education teachers, sports coaches, administrators and managers of sports and recreation clubs, classes and facilities – to uncover dominant viewpoints on sport and disability across the sports and active recreation sectors. The paper draws on data from interviews conducted with the participants. Our findings revealed neoliberal ableist attitudes and practices in relation to competition and winning, able-bodied privilege and resource allocation that favour the able-bodied in the sports, physical activity and recreation environment. We also found human rights-informed anti-ableist attitudes that challenge the able-bodied privilege and strive for the inclusion and participation of disabled young people. By illuminating how non-disabled privilege in sports and active recreation can undermine inclusionary policies, our research underscores the urgent need for change through rights-based strategies, policies and practices that can be leveraged to promote the inclusion of disabled youth in sports and physical activity, thereby advancing their human rights.

Significant barriers limit disabled young people’s opportunities in sport and active recreation. This is both a health and human rights issue: physical activity is vital for well-being, and equitable access to sport and active recreation is mandated by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006). Using Q methodology, a participatory mixed-methods approach that uncovers shared viewpoints through statistical analysis of participant-ranked statements, we examined ableist attitudes in Aotearoa New Zealand that privilege nondisabled access while marginalizing disabled peers, despite decades of inclusionary rhetoric. Forty participants from sport, physical education, and recreation sectors ranked 40 attitudinal statements on disability inclusion. Factor analysis of these rankings revealed three distinct ableist “viewpoints.” We present these viewpoints, propose a “variants of ableism” framework, and discuss implications for parity in participation in sport and physical activity.