Stigma of mental and physical illness and the use of mobile technology

Ableism differs by disability, gender and social context: Evidence from vignette experiments

Existing research on prejudice and discrimination towards disabled people (i.e. 'ableism') has conceptualized it as a general attitude, obscuring the role of social context in its manifestation. We aimed to investigate whether and how ableism manifests differently depending on the nature of the disability, the disabled person's gender and the social context of the interaction. A nationally representative sample of 2000 adults read a series of vignettes about issues faced by disabled people (e.g. employment, relationships). Vignettes varied by presence and type of disability and the disabled person's gender. Judgements about how a disabled person was treated showed clear evidence of ableism towards some conditions (e.g. autism) but not others (e.g. a spine disorder). Judgements about the actions of a disabled person were more nuanced. A disability-gender intersectionality effect was observed for judgements about romantic relationships, with physically disabled women penalized compared to men but no gender difference was observed for intellectual disability. No intersectionality or ableism was observed on a vignette about refusing poorly paid work. We find clear evidence that ableism manifests differently depending on the nature of the individual's disability, their gender and the social context, questioning previous conceptualizations of ableism as a general attitude.

COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy among Americans with disabilities aged 18-65: An exploratory analysis

Background

It is important for people with disabilities to be vaccinated against COVID-19 because, as a group, they are at increased risk of severe outcomes. While there are multiple vaccines available to prevent COVID-19, a considerable proportion of Americans report some hesitancy to becoming vaccinated, including people with disabilities.

Objective

We conducted a study to explore what factors may contribute to COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy among Americans with disabilities.

Methods

We used Amazon's Mechanical Turk to survey 439 people with disabilities (ages 18+) about their concerns of the COVID-19 disease, vaccines, and hesitancy toward vaccination to learn more about factors that influence vaccination hesitancy. Concerns about vaccines were analyzed as a composite variable representing different dimensions such as: side effects, too new, developed too quickly, influenced by politics, and effectiveness.

Results

Results from a logistic regression indicate that concern about vaccines was the most significant predictor of hesitancy, even after considering demographic, economic, and geographic factors. Concerns about getting COVID-19, getting tested for COVID-19, trust in experts, education, and being a Democrat were negatively associated with hesitancy.

Conclusions

These findings indicate that some groups of individuals may be more vaccination hesitant because they are more concerned about vaccine safety than COVID-19 infection. Public health messaging that focuses on the risks of vaccines relative to the risks of COVID-19 might be one strategy to reduce hesitancy and increase vaccination uptake. Messaging should also be tailored to specific disabilities (i.e. physical, mental, sensory), written in plain language, and disseminated in accessible formats.

Predictors for depressive symptoms by four types of disability

This study aimed to examine the longitudinal relationship between disability and depressive symptoms, by comparing four types of disability in community-dwelling individuals with disabilities in South Korea. A total of 3347 South Koreans with disabilities from the second wave of the Panel Survey of Employment for the Disabled was utilized. Depressive symptomatology was assessed by whether the participant had experienced depressive symptoms for more than two weeks during the past year. A multivariate logistic regression model was used to calculate the odds ratio (OR) for depressive symptoms, and a Cox proportional hazards model to calculate the hazard ratio (HR) for two-year survival analysis. Persons who acquired mental disability from accident or industrial disaster and persons with congenital physical-internal disability were at higher risk for depressive symptoms. Maintaining employment was found to be an effective way to decrease the risk of depressive symptoms in persons with physical-external disability, sensory/speech disability, or mental disability. In contrast, in physical-internal disability, retaining normal ability to work seemed to be the key to reduce the risk of depressive symptoms. Predictors of depressive symptoms were found to differ depending on the type of disability. Such differences should be reflected in clinical and policy-level interventions to address the specific psychiatric needs of persons with different disabilities.

Cyberbullying among Youth with and without Disabilities

Cyberbullying refers to bullying that occurs through the Internet and text messaging. While strides have been made in understanding the frequency with which cyberbullying occurs and its correlates, only a handful of published studies have examined cyberbullying among individuals with disabilities. Thus, this study examined cyberbullying prevalence rates and correlates among 231 participants age 16 to 20 (M = 19.32) with and without disabilities (51% male; 70.6% Caucasian). The study also examined the influence of disability status on participants' ability to detect the presence/absence of cyberbullying. Both individuals with and without disabilities displayed high prevalence rates of cyberbullying victimization, with youth with disabilities displaying significantly higher rates. Perpetration rates did not differ significantly between the two groups. Disability status (present/absent) did not influence the ability of participants to detect the presence or absence of cyberbullying. Implications of the findings for prevention/intervention efforts are discussed.