As I draft my first Note as an Interim Editor for JIDD, I am acutely aware that it is almost a year since the World Health Organization formally declared COVID-19 infections to be a global pandemic on 11 March 2020. With this anniversary in mind, I start with some sombre reflections on the enormous toll of this pandemic to date. The mortality and morbidity figures are well known. However, the more intractable aspects that have been brought into sharper focus deserve repeating. The inequality and inequity of health and social services for vulnerable groups are so entrenched that we have come to accept them with varying degrees of reluctance as the inevitable “norm,” while still pushing for meaningful reforms. Overlaying this “norm” with multiple layers of intersecting marginalities makes for extremely complex sets of issues. As a result, there will be multiple cascading effects on the already overstretched health and social care systems for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their care providers. Not just in the short term but also in the medium and long term. We know that, where technology access is not an issue, e-health can be used effectively for the management of health issues. But even in such settings can Zoom and other e-platforms make up for severely curtailed human interactions? Already there is an emerging literature on adverse mental health and quality of life issues associated with COVID-19-related restrictions for people with disabilities.
For an Editor, this provides a not-so-subtle segue for requesting papers on the impact of COVID-19. Some with a focus on specific issues and also on articles that showcase interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research collaborations. Beyond the impact of COVID-19, I am equally cognisant of many other important issues that continue to present a challenge for people with intellectual disabilities, carers, workers, and organisations. Including lack of choice, agency, and control over life decisions, limited suitable accommodation, health, and associated issues; neglect and abuse; better support for disability and associated care staff, upskilling, and retention of care workers; and from an organisational perspective managing the services in unprecedented and unpredictable times.
My vision for JIDD focuses not only on attracting varied and interesting papers but also, more importantly, in encouraging the readership to consider submitting papers that take us away from our comfort zones to think about complex intersectionalities of marginalisation from sociological, health, legal perspectives, and economic modelling of cost of action and inaction. Case studies of successful translational research are much needed; and I also would particularly welcome papers from countries and regions traditionally less well-represented in JIDD, but with the proviso of meeting the well-defined, high-quality standards of the journal.
Now to an altogether different issue. How do we enhance the profile and metrics for JIDD and provide greater visibility for authors and their research? Beyond traditional metrics, there are many different means for highlighting papers published in JIDD. To this end, I am hoping to convene a meeting of Associate Editors and Editorial Consultants to seek their input. Sometimes, interesting ideas come from people who fall outside the defined groups. So, if you are reading this Note and have an idea or two or more, please feel free to get in touch with me.
Finally, a big thank you to Jennifer Clegg for her outstanding work as Editor of JIDD. Her contribution to the journal will be acknowledged at appropriate fora. But in the interim, it would be remiss not to acknowledge that while I get to write this Note, almost all of the work for this issue of JIDD has been undertaken by Jennifer as the outgoing Editor.