Disabled people and COVID-19: four urgent messages for the government

Tom Shakespeare (LSHTM), Nicholas Watson, Richard Brunner, Jane Cullingworth (University of Glasgow), Shaffa Hameed (LSHTM), Charlotte Pearson (University of Glasgow), Nathaniel Scherer and Veronika Reichenberger (LSHTM) report on in-depth qualitative interviews conducted with 69 disabled people in England and Scotland, and with 28 key informants from infrastructure organisations in the voluntary and statutory sectors, about the impact of COVID-19, and measures taken to control it. They discuss the dislocations it has caused in everyday life; the failures of social care; the use of new technologies; and participants’ views on leadership and communication.