Swarnakar R, Santra S. COVID-19, stigma, and people with disabilities: A mental health perspective. World J Clin Infect Dis 2022; 12(1): 47-49 [DOI: 10.5495/wjcid.v12.i1.47]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Raktim Swarnakar, MBBS, MD, Senior Resident Doctor, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi 110029, Delhi, India. raktimswarnakar@hotmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Article-Type of This Article
Letter to the Editor
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Infect Dis. Apr 26, 2022; 12(1): 47-49 Published online Apr 26, 2022. doi: 10.5495/wjcid.v12.i1.47
COVID-19, stigma, and people with disabilities: A mental health perspective
Raktim Swarnakar, Shreya Santra
Raktim Swarnakar, Department ofPhysical Medicine and Rehabilitation, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi 110029, Delhi, India
Shreya Santra, R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata 700004, India
Author contributions: Swarnakar R contributed to conception and design; Swarnakar R and Santra S contributed to literature search and writing.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Raktim Swarnakar and Shreya Santra declare no conflicts of interest for this letter.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Raktim Swarnakar, MBBS, MD, Senior Resident Doctor, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi 110029, Delhi, India. raktimswarnakar@hotmail.com
Received: October 2, 2021 Peer-review started: October 2, 2021 First decision: December 9, 2021 Revised: December 22, 2021 Accepted: February 15, 2022 Article in press: February 15, 2022 Published online: April 26, 2022 Processing time: 205 Days and 2.3 Hours
Abstract
Discrimination is an age-old ‘illness’ irrespective of its context. Stigma is a common factor that has been associated with disability and coronavirus disease 2019. The public health impact of stigma on differently-abled people during this pandemic is not known and it is a poorly investigated and neglected area. It is important to address the current research need in the concerned area and its implications for public health policymaking and changes in practices that it requires. Together we can win the war against pandemics if we reduce the mental distancing in all perspectives.
Core Tip: Currently, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is known to be associated with stigma. Previously, it was known that disability is also associated with stigma. The public health impact of stigma on differently-abled people during the COVID-19 pandemic is not known and is a poorly investigated area currently. This letter would like to address the current research need in the concerned area and this would have implications for public health policymaking and changes in practices that it needs.
