COVID-19 and Disability The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected many who have historically faced significant barriers to employment, including people with disabilities, compounding the economic hardships many with disabilities faced before the pandemic. Moreover, those with chronic illness and disabilities (CID) may be especially vulnerable to the effects of the pandemic (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020). CID refers to any illness, health condition, or physical/mental impairment that substantially limits an individual’s ability to perform one or more major life activities and their ability to interact with the world around them (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020). Examples of CID include developmental disability (e.g., intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder), neurological disability (e.g., brain injury, epilepsy, and multiple sclerosis), physical and sensory disability (e.g., visual/hearing impairments, arthritis, and amputation), psychiatric disability (e.g., depression, anxiety disorder), and chronic health condition (e.g., diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). The COVID-19 pandemic is already likely to impact individuals with CID negatively as they may experience increased mental health concerns and stress associated with the fear of contracting the virus and needing sexual orientation or gender identity. The “Q” in the abbreviation stands for queer. Queer is an adjective used by some people whose sexual orientation is not exclusively heterosexual or straight. This umbrella term includes people who have nonbinary, gender-fluid, or gender- nonconforming identities. Once considered a pejorative term, queer has been reclaimed by some LGBTQIA+ people to describe themselves; however, it is not a universally accepted term even within the LGBTQIA+ community. The number of individuals identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender is 7%, double the number reported in 2012 (Jones, 2022). Mental Health in LGBTQ Populations According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), “LGB adults are more than twice as likely as heterosexual adults to experience a mental health condition” (Bentley, 2021). Many people identifying as LGBTQIA+ face discrimination, family rejection, harassment, and fear of violence. “Like with any identity, feeling different or worse, unaccepted as you are a significant risk factor for mental health struggles” (Bentley, 2021). According to Bentley (2021), these statistics from Mental Health America demonstrate the concerning mental health challenges facing the LGBTQIA+ community: ● LGBTQIA+ teens are six times more likely to experience symptoms of depression than non-LGBTQIA+ identifying teens. ● LGBTQIA+ youth are more than twice as likely to feel suicidal and more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than heterosexual youth. ● Forty-eight percent of transgender adults report that they have considered suicide in the last year, compared to 4% of the overall U.S. population. Discrimination Until the 2015 Supreme Court decision to legalize same-sex marriage, LGBTQ individuals could not marry in most of the U.S. Despite the Supreme Court decision and slight changes in public opinion, many LGBTQ individuals still experience
to social distance or quarantine (Pfefferbaum & North, 2020) and reduced access to essential healthcare services (due to health facility closures) and limited support networks (Courtenay & Perera, 2020; Tummers et al., 2020). Park et al. (2022) examined the impact of COVID-19 on individuals with disabilities. They found that compared with those without CID, individuals with CID were more likely to report that the COVID-19 pandemic had impacted their employment, and they were more often laid off or dismissed from their job. Next, individuals with CID reported significantly higher stress and lower life satisfaction than those without CID, regardless of the pandemic’s impact on employment. Third, regardless of their CID status, individuals whose employment was impacted reported significantly lower life satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic. Looking at the Park et al. (2022) data more closely, we can see the impact of disability status on employment flexibility. Findings reveal that individuals with CID were more likely to be laid off or dismissed from employment compared with those without CID, whereas those without CID were more likely to be allowed to work from home compared with those with CID. discrimination in this country. Currently, in many states and municipalities, LGBTQ individuals can be fired and denied housing because of their sexual orientation and gender identity (Harvard Law Review, 2015; Housing & Urban Development, 2017). Aside from being denied fundamental rights enjoyed by most of the population, many LGBTQ people report repeated experiences of bullying and harassment in school, work, and community environments. A recent national study of school climate found schools “hostile environments for a distressing number of LGBT students, the overwhelming majority of whom routinely hear the anti-LGBT language and experience victimization and discrimination at school. As a result, many LGBT students avoid school activities or miss school entirely” (Kosciw et al., 2014, p. xvi). Even outside of the school environment, many LGBTQ individuals experience similar difficulties in the work environment. Over 40% of LGBT workers (45.5%) reported that they experienced employment discrimination or harassment because of their sexual orientation or gender identity at some point in their lives (Sears et al., 2021). The employment discrimination and harassment reported by LGBT employees ranged from being fired or not hired to experiencing verbal, physical, or sexual harassment because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Beyond being fired or not hired, respondents also reported other types of unfair treatment based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, including not being promoted, not receiving raises, being treated differently than those with different-sex partners, and being excluded from company events. LGBT employees continue to experience discrimination even after the U.S. Supreme Court held in Bostock v. Clayton County that discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity are forms of sex discrimination prohibited by Title VII. The decision extended nondiscrimination protections to LGBT employees nationwide as of June 2020 (Sears et al., 2021). Many LGBT employees report hearing many discriminatory comments. The most frequent type of comment that respondents received involved being told that they were “going to hell,” would “burn in hell,” or were not going “to heaven.” Having to hide such an essential part of their identity can be
Gender/Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning Population LGBTQ is an abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer. You may have also seen the abbreviation LGBTQIA+, which is an abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, asexual, and more. These terms describe a person’s
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Book Code: PCTX1325
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