“Just trying to adjust to the new reality that seems to be changing every hour”: Lessons learned from nation-wide peer meetings on COVID-19 with rural disability service providers

ABSTRACT

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, providers of independent living services for rural disabled people were forced to adapt how they conducted their operations. This study is a primary analysis of data based on transcripts from eight meetings of a nationwide network of service providers (n = 40-150 participants per meeting), who met virtually to provide peer support during the unfolding pandemic. We used qualitative thematic analysis to understand the ways these service providers adapted to address the needs of rural disabled people during the pandemic. We identified four main themes describing organizational adaptations. Although this was a predominantly challenging time, service providers identified ways their adaptations were beneficial. These included creating new ways to connect, reaching more people with disabilities, and reducing commuting time to provide services. Service providers intended to continue using their adapted strategies and platforms for providing services, and thus projected these benefits would be long-lasting.

KEYWORDS:

• Rural
• disability
• COVID-19
• social isolation
• internet access

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge Independent Living Research Utilization, the Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living (APRIL), and APRIL’s Director of Training and Technical Assistance, Mary Willard, for their efforts in helping us gather these data and for providing ongoing insight into how CIL staff and consumers adjusted to the everchanging pandemic circumstances.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. In alignment with the various preferences of disability advocates, we use the terms “people with disabilities” (person-first language) and “disabled people” (identity-first language) interchangeably.

2. Consumer is the term used by CIL staff to describe the people who use CIL services.

3. Nursing home transition was primarily addressed in another, separate, series of meetings devoted to that topic. We plan to explore that type of transition in a separate paper.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research [90DPKT0005]. NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The research does not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL, or HHS and one should not assume endorsement by the federal government.