Disability, COVID-19-Related Stressors, Discrimination, and the Amplification of Psychological Distress

As the disproportionate psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people with disabilities has become more apparent, separate strands of research have considered the explanatory role of pandemicrelated stressors and discrimination. The goal of this study was to assess whether discrimination and pandemic-related stressors jointly contributed to differences in psychological distress among people with disabilities compared to those without disabilities. Data from a 2020 cross-sectional community survey in the Intermountain West region of the United States (N = 2,012) with a sizeable subsample of people with physical, psychological, and intellectual or developmental disabilities (n = 1,020) were used to assess variation by disability status in the independent and joint associations of pandemic-related stressors and discrimination exposure with psychological distress. Ordinary least squares regression results confirmed the associations of disability, pandemic-related stressor exposure, and discrimination with psychological distress. Three-way interaction results further indicated that the interactive effects of pandemic-related stressor exposure and discrimination for psychological distress were significantly greater for people with disabilities relative to people who were not disabled. Extending earlier calls to address disability-related discrimination in public health responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, this study demonstrates that discrimination amplifies the psychological impact of pandemic-related stressors for people with disabilities.