The impact of COVID-19 among people with low literacy and people with disabilities: measures, (mental) health and perspectives for action with regard to care and support needs and policy

What do we know thanks to this project? In this project we have provided insight into the consequences of the pandemic on the mental health of people with difficulty with the Dutch language (people with a mild intellectual disability and people with low literacy). We now know that this one is big. In particular, the loss of a daily structure and no longer seeing people you know has a major effect. Our project also shows that our target group needs understandable information. Not being able to properly understand the measures creates unrest and makes it difficult for people to follow them, even though they generally want to do so. Why is this important? At the outbreak of the pandemic, a national effort was made to map out the consequences for citizens. In regular studies, people with difficulty with the Dutch language are not or hardly represented, while there were indications that they could be hit harder. Thanks to this project, we know even better how we can achieve this.