Same Old New Normal: The Ableist Fallacy of “Post-Pandemic” Work

Nowakowski, Alexandra C. H.

doi:10.17645/si.v11i1.5647

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 75 publications

(56 reference statements)

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“…Furthermore, it demanded imagination, ingenuity, and served as a reminder of the interdependent state in which we all live. Evidencing this is the contribution by Betts et al (2023), which reflects on the development of a "techno-social" space to increase agency and self-advocacy, and that of Nowakowski (2023), which confirms the experience that many disabled people had, in terms of increased accessibility and inclusion in work. Finally, a number of the articles in this issue emphasise the importance of intersectionality in any assessment of the impact of the pandemic.…”

Section: Thematic Summary Of the Issuesupporting

confidence: 53%

Disability and Social Inclusion: Lessons From the Pandemic

Barden

Bê²,

Prtichard³

et al. 2023

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The coronavirus pandemic necessitated rapid, radical changes to global systems, structures, and organisations across all areas of life, including education, healthcare, and social services. These changes were something of a double‐edged sword. On the one hand, widespread adoption of the kinds of remote‐working technologies long advocated for by disabled people opened up possibilities for inclusion. On the other, some people’s inability to access such technologies, together with increased social isolation, exacerbated forms of exclusion. This thematic issue considers what lessons can be learned from the pandemic in striving to design a future which is more inclusive for all. In this editorial, we provide a brief overview of some of the major challenges the pandemic created for disabled people, who were disproportionately negatively affected by it. We also suggest that a disability rights lens is a useful way of highlighting both the contingency of disability and the need for more responsive and humane healthcare systems. The editorial goes on to outline the opportunities to challenge entrenched ableism and create a “new normal” the pandemic afforded. It concludes by offering a thematic overview of the articles in this thematic issue, which together reveal a complex pattern of inclusions and exclusions, interdependence, and intersectionality.

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Section: Thematic Summary Of the Issuesupporting

confidence: 53%

Disability and Social Inclusion: Lessons From the Pandemic

Barden

Bê²,

Prtichard³

et al. 2023

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Left behind in the “Return to Normal”: People with intellectual and developmental disabilities' outcomes and supports 4 years into COVID‐19

Friedman

2024

Diversity & Inclusion Research

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The COVID‐19 pandemic has impacted people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) immensely. While the pandemic and life during it has changed over time, by the end of 2023, the most prominent narrative was a “return to normal.” Yet, there is less research about people with IDD's quality of life and services and supports beyond the initial waves of the pandemic. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on people with IDD's quality of life outcomes and supports 4 years into the pandemic. Using a repeated cross‐sectional design and linear and binary logistic regression models, we analyzed secondary Personal Outcome Measures® data from 4549 people with IDD from 2018 to 2023 in the United States (n = 4391; 32 states), Canada (n = 142), Ireland (n = 12), New Zealand (n = 3), and Australia (n = 1). We found people with IDD's quality of life outcomes and supports have yet to return to prepandemic levels. In fact, not only was almost every area of quality of life negatively impacted, many people with IDD who were interviewed in 2022 and 2023 had worse outcomes and supports than those interviewed earlier in the pandemic. Instead of clinging to the idea that life or the service system for people with IDD has “returned to normal,” we must recognize that normal was never a good enough destination to return to for people with IDD in the first place. Instead, we must commit to a new normal that is inclusive, accessible, and equitable.

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Graying arts access: crafting creative online programming to promote older adults' artistic engagement in and beyond pandemic time

McFarland,

Rice,

Changfoot

et al. 2024

Front. Sociol.

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IntroductionDeclared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020, the COVID-19 virus and attendant patchwork of local, regional, and national government-initiated public health responses to it unexpectedly opened possibilities for greater access to culture for disabled and chronically ill people in ways that were unimagined in pre-pandemic times. During the “emergency” period of the pandemic, the fields of critical disability studies and aging studies independently demonstrated the importance and value of shifting to digital technologies for disabled people and older adults respectively; however, to date, little scholarship has considered the value of digital technologies for older adults aging with and into disabilities beyond pandemic time.MethodsInformed by the theoretical insights of scholarship exploring critical access and the aging-disability nexus, this paper draws from empirical data collected during Phase 2 of Direct[Message]: Digital Access to Artistic Engagement, a collaborative, community-based, arts-informed research project based in Southwestern Ontario (Canada). Drawing from 50 qualitative interviews with aging adults from un/under/represented communities, findings explore the intersections of older age and disability, including dynamics related to gender, sexuality, migration, size, race/ethnicity, and other differences, as these relate to access to and enjoyment of creative spaces before, during, and “after” the COVID-19 pandemic.ResultsResults show that older adults aging with/into disabilities in Southwestern Ontario express an overwhelming desire and even urgent need to access interactive arts programming from the relatively safe spaces of their homes both within and outside pandemic time.DiscussionAs the normative world pushed for a return to ableist normative life in 2022, a year marked by “severe” rates of the highly infectious Omicron variant and the loss of effective public measures, such as community masking and widely available testing, participants described the need for continued access to creative and social participation via remote options that sidestepped socially exclusive and physically inaccessible spaces. Findings indicate a need for increased investment in digital arts programming for older adults aging with/into disabilities.

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Same Old New Normal: The Ableist Fallacy of “Post-Pandemic” Work

Cited by 3 publications

References 75 publications

Disability and Social Inclusion: Lessons From the Pandemic

Disability and Social Inclusion: Lessons From the Pandemic

Left behind in the “Return to Normal”: People with intellectual and developmental disabilities' outcomes and supports 4 years into COVID‐19

Graying arts access: crafting creative online programming to promote older adults' artistic engagement in and beyond pandemic time

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