Precarious Employment during the COVID-19 Pandemic, Disability-Related Discrimination, and Mental Health

Abstract

Drawing on separate strands of research documenting the psychological consequences of (a) precarious employment and other challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and (b) ableism, this study incorporates both into an examination of disability-based differences in the joint significance of discrimination and work precarity during the pandemic for mental health. Analyses utilizing data from a regional survey of people with and without disabilities in the Intermountain West (N = 2,012) provide evidence that precarious employment, greater discrimination, and disability independently predict depressive symptoms. Further, in the context of greater discrimination, more precarious employment is found to have greater significance for people with disabilities compared to those who are not currently disabled. These findings challenge us to think about how we engage in research concerning ableism and macro-level stressors, and underscore the role of power structures and positionality in shaping the psychological impact of employment challenges experienced during the pandemic.

Disability, food insecurity, and nutritional assistance in the context of COVID-19 pandemic: Interrogating the role of perceived everyday discrimination.

“…Utilizing data from a community survey with a sizeable subsample of people with disabilities in the Intermountain West collected in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, we first documented a statistically significant association between self-reported disability and participation in food assistance programs, and we observed that this association was driven by disability-related differences in food insecurity. This finding supports emerging research on the increase in food insecurity associated with the pandemic and its mitigation efforts, and further extends this scholarship by documenting the nutritional challenges that individuals with disabilities have experienced during this period (Brown & Ciciurkaite, 2022; Brucker et al, 2021; Choi et al, 2022; Ciciurkaite et al, 2022; Fitzpatrick et al, 2021). A significant gap remains, however, in our understanding of why people with disabilities and chronic health conditions may struggle to sustain reliable access to food during public health crises and how these challenges may be mitigated.…”

How COVID-19 impacted people with disabilities: A qualitative study in Delaware

“…These impacts were viewed as harming certain subgroups of people with IDDs more significantly, including those just completing high school and other young adults preparing to start an independent life. In addition, much remains unknown about the long-term risk of these challenges given the limited understanding of the future impacts of COVID infection among people with disabilities or the potential for long-COVID and COVID acquired disability to disrupt future access to education, employment, and healthcare [ 23 ].…”

Economic precarity and changing levels of anxiety and stress among Canadians with disabilities and chronic health conditions throughout the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…The sources of stressors affecting people with disabilities and chronic health conditions are a function of their social status and position in the social structure, which shape everyday interactions with social barriers, including those tied to health and economic precarity (Brown, 2017). Recently, Botha and Frost (2020) and Brown and Ciciurcaite (2022) applied a minority stress framework for understanding how disability status heightens exposure to chronic stressors affecting mental health. The former study situated mental health outcomes in the unique sociopolitical experiences of people with autism that include how stigmatized statuses limit opportunities and resources.…”

“…And so, in addition to primary stressors, pandemic‐related secondary stressors like work disruptions and job loss, reduced income, and increased living costs, negatively impacted mental health, especially among communities already exposed to chronic stressors tied to health and economic precarity (Grace, 2020; Turcotte &, Hango, 2020). Drawing from a minority stress framework, Brown and Ciciurkaite (2022) show how macro‐level stressors, including uncertainty around work and income, disproportionately added to the particular kinds of distress experienced by people with disabilities during the pandemic. More than half of Canadians with disabilities were not working at the onset of the pandemic, and those who were working were clustered in low‐paying food and service sectors that were among those most affected by COVID‐19 (Mather & Jarsosz, 2020).…”