COVID-19 disproportionately impacts access to basic needs among households with disabled members.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted disabled people, especially those who are members of marginalized communities that were already denied access to the resources and opportunities necessary to ensure health equity before the pandemic.

Objective: Compare COVID-19 impact on basic needs access among households with and without disabled adults.

Methods: An online survey was distributed to households with children enrolled in one of 30 socially vulnerable elementary or middle schools in San Diego County, California. We measured disability using the single-item Global Activities Limitations Indicator. We measured pandemic impacts on basic needs access using the RADx-UP common data elements toolkit. We then assessed number of impact items reported by household disability using multivariable linear regression, adjusting for household income, household size, education, parent gender, and child's ethnicity.

Results: Of 304 participants, 41% had at least one disabled household member. Participants reporting a disabled household member were more likely to report challenges accessing basic needs, such as food, housing, healthcare, transportation, medication, and stable income during the pandemic (all p < 0.05). Difficulty accessing basic needs was significantly associated with household income and parent gender in the final regression model.

Conclusions: Households with a disabled member were significantly more likely to experience difficulty accessing basic needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. This has important implications for the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on disabled people, especially those from low-income communities that already face barriers to accessing resources. To improve COVID-19 outcomes for disabled people, we must focus on meeting their basic needs.