• Anne Kavanagh, Helen Dickinson, Gemma Carey, Gwynnyth Llewellyn, Eric Emerson, George Disney, and Chris Hatton.
• Disability and Health Unit, Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Australia. Electronic address: a.kavanagh@unimelb.edu.au.
• Disabil Health J. 2021 Apr 1; 14 (2): 101050.

AbstractCOVID-19 has exacerbated pre-existing difficulties children and adults with disability face accessing quality health care. Some people with disability are at greater risk of contracting COVID-19 because they require support for personal care and are unable to physically distance, e.g. those living in congregate settings. Additionally, some people with disability have health conditions that put them at higher risk of poor outcomes if they become infected. Despite this, governments have been slow to recognise, and respond to, the unique and diverse health care needs of people with disability during COVID-19. While some countries, including Australia, have improved access to high-quality health care for people with disability others, like England, have failed to support their citizens with disability. In this Commentary we describe the health care responses of England and Australia and make recommendations for rapidly improving health care for people with disability in the pandemic and beyond.Crown Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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