Covid-19 and the crisis in social care: exploring the experiences of disabled people in the pandemic

Pearson, C. , Watson, N. , Brunner, R. , Cullingworth, J. , Hameed, S., Scherer, N. and Shakespeare, T. (2022) Covid-19 and the crisis in social care: exploring the experiences of disabled people in the pandemic. Social Policy and Society, (doi: 10.1017/S1474746422000112) (Early Online Publication)

Abstract

Governments across the world have been slow in reacting to meeting the needs of disabled people during the pandemic. This has exposed existing inequalities in social policies, as well as new support barriers. Debates over social care have focused on Covid-19's impact on those living in residential care. Little is known about the experiences of disabled people who rely on daily support in their homes. This article reports on a year-long study examining the experiences of disabled people during the pandemic in England and Scotland. It focuses on the crisis in social care and offers evidence of how lives have been disrupted. For many, this resulted in a sudden loss of services, delayed assessments and break down of routines and communities. Findings underline the weakness of social care in its wider relationship with the NHS and show how the social care crisis has challenged the goal of independent living.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This article was funded by UKRI (grant number: ES/V004069/1).
• Status: Early Online Publication
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Brunner, Dr Richard and Cullingworth, Dr Jane and Watson, Professor Nicholas and Pearson, Dr Charlotte
• Authors: Pearson, C., Watson, N., Brunner, R., Cullingworth, J., Hameed, S., Scherer, N., and Shakespeare, T.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Sociology Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences; College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Urban Studies
• Journal Name: Social Policy and Society
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• ISSN: 1474-7464
• ISSN (Online): 1475-3073
• Published Online: 08 April 2022
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2022 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Social Policy and Society 2022
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License