The Effect of the Pandemic on the Mobility of Persons with Disabilities
摘要
Still, little is known about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mobility habits of persons with disabilities. The paper focuses on the research question how people with disabilities assessed the effects of the pandemic on their mobility behaviour. An online survey assessed data of a total of 745 people with disabilities from 21 European countries. Data was collected at two points in time: winter of 2020/2021 (n = 553) and summer 2022 (n = 181). Survey respondents were asked whether the pandemic affected their mobility behaviour in terms of six aspects: 1) willingness to travel, 2) difficulty of traveling, 3) comfort, 4) dependency on others, 5) length of journeys and 6) safety. Nearly 60% strongly agreed that the pandemic made them less willing to travel. Almost half stated that the pandemic made their journeys more difficult, less safe and less comfortable. The effect of the pandemic on users’ mobility behaviour was assessed to be greater in winter 2020/2021 than in summer 2022. The analysis revealed some interesting variations between the various kinds of disabilities in the way in which they assessed mobility changes. It was shown that female respondents tended to feel less safe, more dependent on others and less willing to travel compared to men.