The Impact of COVID-19 and Pandemic Mitigation Measures on Persons With Sensory Impairment

PURPOSE: To assess the impact of the COVID-19 pan-demic and associated mitigation measures on persons with sensory impairments (SI), including visual impairments (VI) and hearing impairments (HI). DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. METHODS: Adults with VI (best-corrected visual acu-ity < 20/60 in the better-seeing eye), HI (International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, codes), and age-and sex-matched controls (n = 375) were recruited from the University of Michigan. The 34-item Coron-avirus Disability Survey was administered. Both chi(2) tests and logistic regression were used to compare survey re-sponses between groups. RESULTS: All groups reported high levels of disrup-tion of daily life, with 80% reporting a fair amount or a lot of disruption (VI: 76%, HI: 83%, CT: 82%, P = .33). Participants with VI had greater difficulty with day-to-day activities and were more likely to cite the fol-lowing reasons: caregiver was worried about COVID-19 (odds ratio [OR] VI = 7.2, 95% CI = 3.5-14.4, P < .001) and decreased availability of public transportation (ORVI = 5.0, 95% CI = 1.5-15.6, P = .006). Partic-ipants with VI, but not HI, showed a trend toward in-creased difficulty accessing medical care (ORVI = 2.0, 95% CI = 0.99-4.0, P = .052) and began relying more on others for day-to-day assistance (ORVI = 3.1, 95% CI = 1.6-5.7, P < .001). Overall, 30% reported diffi-culty obtaining trusted information about the pandemic. Those with VI reported more difficulty seeing or hear-ing trusted information (ORVI = 6.1, 95% CI = 1.6-22.1, P = .006). Employed participants with HI were more likely to report a reduction in wages (ORHI = 2.5, 95% CI = 1.2-5.3, P = .02). CONCLUSIONS: Individuals with VI have experienced increased disruption and challenges in daily activities re-lated to the pandemic. People with SI may benefit from targeted policy approaches to the current pandemic and future stressors. Minimal differences in some survey mea-sures may be due to the large impact of the pandemic on the population as a whole. The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic and public health mitigation measures have had an exceedingly large impact around the globe. As of the time of writing, more than 114 million global cases (28 million US) had been diagnosed, and there had been more than 2.5 million fatal-ities attributed to COVID-19 (517,000 US).(1,2) (C) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted individuals with sensory impairments, especially those with visual impairments facing more difficulties in daily activities. Efforts on targeted policy approaches are suggested to support this vulnerable population during the pandemic and future crises.