How Does COVID-19 impact Students with Disabilities/Health Concerns?

Han Zhang; Paula Nurius; Yasaman Sefidgar; Margaret Morris; Sreenithi Balasubramanian; Jennifer Brown; Anind K. Dey; Kevin Kuehn; Eve Riskin; Xuhai Xu; Jen Mankoff

arXiv · 2005.05438

How Does COVID-19 impact Students with Disabilities/Health Concerns?

Han Zhang·Paula Nurius·Yasaman Sefidgar·Margaret Morris·Sreenithi Balasubramanian·Jennifer Brown·Anind K. Dey·Kevin Kuehn·Eve Riskin·Xuhai Xu·Jen Mankoff

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Abstract

The impact of COVID-19 on students has been enormous, with an increase in worries about fiscal and physical health, a rapid shift to online learning, and increased isolation. In addition to these changes, students with disabilities/health concerns may face accessibility problems with online learning or communication tools, and their stress may be compounded by additional risks such as financial stress or pre-existing conditions. To our knowledge, no one has looked specifically at the impact of COVID-19 on students with disabilities/health concerns. In this paper, we present data from a survey of 147 students with and without disabilities collected in late March to early April of 2020 to assess the impact of COVID-19 on these students' education and mental health. Our findings show that students with disabilities/health concerns were more concerned about classes going online than their peers without disabilities. In addition, students with disabilities/health concerns also reported that they have experienced more COVID-19 related adversities compared to their peers without disabilities/health concerns. We argue that students with disabilities/health concerns in higher education need confidence in the accessibility of the online learning tools that are becoming increasingly prevalent in higher education not only because of COVID-19 but also more generally. In addition, educational technologies will be more accessible if they consider the learning context, and are designed to provide a supportive, calm, and connecting learning environment.

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Han Zhang, Paula Nurius, Yasaman Sefidgar, Margaret Morris, Sreenithi Balasubramanian, Jennifer Brown, Anind K. Dey, Kevin Kuehn, Eve Riskin, Xuhai Xu, Jen Mankoff. 2021-05-06. How Does COVID-19 impact Students with Disabilities/Health Concerns?. https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.05438

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