Mental health challenges for persons with disabilities
A recent study in the United States found that adults with disabilities reported experiencing more mental distress than those without disabilities. If Namibia had the resources to do the research, we would sadly find the results to be not much different. Frequent mental distress is often associated with increased use of health services, mental disorders, chronic disease, and limitations in daily life. There is a significant connection between disability and mental health, but that connection is far more complex than it might at first seem.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, isolation, disconnect, disrupted routines, and interrupted access to health services greatly impacted the lives and mental well-being of people with disabilities. Persons with disabilities often have a compromised immune system and needed to be extra careful during the pandemic.
We all learned how precious and fragile our health is during the pandemic; persons with disabilities did not need this lesson, they always knew. The added spectre of catching a potentially deadly virus in the form of Covid-19, just added to the mental burden that they had to contend with.
In Namibia, healthcare services were stretched to a breaking point. Hospitals were flooded and as so often the people who are marginalised in one way or another found that they were almost completely ignored during the pandemic.
This created an additional mental health burden and distress, with no way to engage with the subject or talk to professionals.
Most sidelined
With around 100 000 persons with disabilities in Namibia, this is an important topic.
Namibia is focused on achieving the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will help us attain a better standard of living, and as a country, help to grow our economy. However, if we do not look after and improve the lives of those who are most sidelined and forgotten, we cannot hope to achieve the SDG goals.
This has been embodied in the promise of Leave no one behind (LNOB), the central pillar of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its SDGs.
Goal number three (SDG 3) – Good Health and Well-being – resonates the most when speaking on the topic of mental health.
Most people have accepted their disability as part of who they are. Being able to understand the relationship between disability and mental health in a healthy sense of self is essential. It is not something you just decide to do. A support structure of family, friends, caregivers, and, in fact, society needs to be part of this.
Unbearable
How will persons with disabilities in Namibia access assistance when we, as a nation, are already living through a mental health crisis?
The LNOB principle is so important as stigmatisation and social constraints faced by persons with disabilities can lead to life-threatening depression. Research shows that people with disabilities encounter tremendous obstacles compared to others, which have little or nothing to do with the disability itself.
These constraints and barriers are both structural and ideological, ranging from limited access to public transportation to the lack of flexible work options, with a myriad of obstacles in between.
Simply put, it comes down to social structures that limit the full participation of persons with disabilities.
Physical barriers, pervasive stereotyping, and the lack of labour participation form, in essence, a perfect storm, all too frequently setting persons with disabilities apart from the rest of society.
This places an unbearable strain on their mental health. It leads to and contributes to an increased risk of depression and suicide among a group that is already very vulnerable.
Despite all the diverse challenges, life with a disability does not have to mean a life of unhappiness, isolation, or loneliness. Finding engagement and purpose are essential in overcoming isolation and combatting depression. It just means that we all, as Namibians, need to make sure that no one is left behind, and that especially means the people who are most easily and most often overlooked.
There is no quick solution – but focusing attention on this issue through articles like this will hopefully start a conversation.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, isolation, disconnect, disrupted routines, and interrupted access to health services greatly impacted the lives and mental well-being of people with disabilities. Persons with disabilities often have a compromised immune system and needed to be extra careful during the pandemic.
We all learned how precious and fragile our health is during the pandemic; persons with disabilities did not need this lesson, they always knew. The added spectre of catching a potentially deadly virus in the form of Covid-19, just added to the mental burden that they had to contend with.
In Namibia, healthcare services were stretched to a breaking point. Hospitals were flooded and as so often the people who are marginalised in one way or another found that they were almost completely ignored during the pandemic.
This created an additional mental health burden and distress, with no way to engage with the subject or talk to professionals.
Most sidelined
With around 100 000 persons with disabilities in Namibia, this is an important topic.
Namibia is focused on achieving the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will help us attain a better standard of living, and as a country, help to grow our economy. However, if we do not look after and improve the lives of those who are most sidelined and forgotten, we cannot hope to achieve the SDG goals.
This has been embodied in the promise of Leave no one behind (LNOB), the central pillar of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its SDGs.
Goal number three (SDG 3) – Good Health and Well-being – resonates the most when speaking on the topic of mental health.
Most people have accepted their disability as part of who they are. Being able to understand the relationship between disability and mental health in a healthy sense of self is essential. It is not something you just decide to do. A support structure of family, friends, caregivers, and, in fact, society needs to be part of this.
Unbearable
How will persons with disabilities in Namibia access assistance when we, as a nation, are already living through a mental health crisis?
The LNOB principle is so important as stigmatisation and social constraints faced by persons with disabilities can lead to life-threatening depression. Research shows that people with disabilities encounter tremendous obstacles compared to others, which have little or nothing to do with the disability itself.
These constraints and barriers are both structural and ideological, ranging from limited access to public transportation to the lack of flexible work options, with a myriad of obstacles in between.
Simply put, it comes down to social structures that limit the full participation of persons with disabilities.
Physical barriers, pervasive stereotyping, and the lack of labour participation form, in essence, a perfect storm, all too frequently setting persons with disabilities apart from the rest of society.
This places an unbearable strain on their mental health. It leads to and contributes to an increased risk of depression and suicide among a group that is already very vulnerable.
Despite all the diverse challenges, life with a disability does not have to mean a life of unhappiness, isolation, or loneliness. Finding engagement and purpose are essential in overcoming isolation and combatting depression. It just means that we all, as Namibians, need to make sure that no one is left behind, and that especially means the people who are most easily and most often overlooked.
There is no quick solution – but focusing attention on this issue through articles like this will hopefully start a conversation.
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