Disability and Loneliness: New Impact
The cover of the Impact issue on loneliness. The text reads, "Lonely? You're not alone." Two young people, viewed from above, stand alone, separated by the text.
The new issue of Impact magazine explores the global loneliness epidemic through a disability lens.
Articles in the issue explore the latest loneliness research, promising programs tackling both loneliness and isolation in people with disabilities, and personal stories from individuals and families who share what loneliness looks like to them.
Editors tapped to lead the issue were Sarah Hall, a research associate at the Institute on Community Integration whose work centers on social belonging for people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD); Zach Rossetti, associate professor at Boston University’s Wheelock College of Education and Human Development; and Shelby Richardi, a person with lived disability experience who has collaborated on friendship and belonging research projects with Rossetti.
“When we first started talking about the issue, it was difficult for me because I kept thinking about it in terms of social inclusion, but we really need to dig into loneliness itself and learn how people with disabilities experience it,” Hall said. “We need to intentionally find out what people want and what they’re missing” in their relationships.
The topic does conjure negative feelings, Rossetti said, but they must be addressed in the field.
“Despite lots of great things happening, there is a lot of social isolation and loneliness in communities,” he said, noting articles on how loneliness particularly affects people with disabilities during the transition from school to adult life and later at retirement age. “There are roots of problems leading to loneliness in our separate education systems for students with disabilities, and in general, much of society is still inaccessible in different ways to people with disabilities. It’s quite scary to think about the number of people who are experiencing loneliness, and just having a disability is a key risk factor.”
The rising use of social media and hours spent with various forms of technology are explored in the issue.
“The article I wrote with Dr. Rossetti was about how technology causes so much isolation when we can’t see each other face to face,” Richardi said. “If a person with a disability wants to be friends with a person without disabilities online, things can happen where hurtful things are said, or people may be dishonest. I’ve experienced it, and it’s hard.”
On the other hand, there is promise in technology’s ability to connect people with disabilities to experiences in new ways, author Satomi Shinde writes.
“The exploration of advanced technology for individuals with disabilities warrants further investigation, especially given the current advancements in AI technology,” Shinde writes in an article about the use of robotics to address isolation in elderly people and those with disabilities. While technology can provide meaningful social engagement, the author cautions that it should never be viewed as a way to discourage people with disabilities from participating in their communities in person.
Taken together, the articles in the issue place a call to action to address loneliness and disability as a community.
“Loneliness causes distress that can be long-lasting for people with IDD, affecting their physical and mental health,” Hall said. “They need support to be out in the community, to meet people, and to develop a variety of relationships.”
Each issue of Impact, published by ICI and available free in print and online, brings together a diverse mix of academic, programmatic, and personal voices to illuminate a critical issue in disability research, practice, or advocacy.