Center for Disabilities Studies

Since the beginning of March, fatalities among residents and staff in long-term care facilities have accounted for about 40 percent of the U.S. death toll attributed to Covid-19. Already vulnerable to contagious disease due to close-quarters living and high rates of preexisting health conditions, long-term care facility residents and staff also had difficulty obtaining personal protective equipment and conducting adequate testing. Experts express concern that easing coronavirus restrictions will exacerbate health risks within facilities.

Protestors who object to wearing facemasks to shield themselves and their fellow citizens from Covid-19 contagion are pretending to have disabilities to escape masking rules. People with certain disabilities and chronic conditions cannot wear masks for health reasons. A recent violent incident in which a security guard was killed trying to prevent unmasked people from entering a store demonstrates the danger this creates for people with disabilities.

Officials with national organizations representing school administrators, school psychologists, special education directors and other educators have requested U.S. lawmakers relax financial penalties for not spending enough on special education. Federal law requires yearly spending on special education to equal or surpass the previous year’s. However, these groups argue that money that would otherwise be spent on special education has been rerouted during the pandemic and that states are already facing budgetary shortfalls.

An analysis of 30,000 Covid-19 patients performed by researchers from Syracuse University and SUNY Upstate Medical University found that for people between ages 18–74, those with intellectual and developmental disabilities are more likely to die if they contract Covid-19 than those without intellectual and developmental disabilities. While the study did not address potential explanations, researchers noted that co-occurring health conditions and residence in group settings are possible factors.

A team of video game design students, guided by a special education teacher and several digital media professionals, are creating a game to appeal to and challenge children with autism. The game, Palaka, focuses on the relationship between a guardian and a lost child. Players control the guardian, helping the child navigate puzzles and avoid hazards. The game designers have included features such as multiple forms of nonverbal cues between the two characters and adaptive difficulty that changes based on how smoothly players are progressing.