Previous research has shown loneliness can lead to poor health. Research also shows that disabled people are more likely to be lonely than non-disabled people. The researchers wanted to know if this has changed over time.

This study uses survey data from Australia households collected between 2003 and 2020. There was a specific question which the researchers focused on. It asked people how much they did or did not agree with statement ‘I often feel very lonely’.

The researchers used this to work out how many people with and without disability experienced loneliness. Then the researchers organised their data into separate categories. The groups were age, sex, and type of disability. This let the researchers compare the findings for different groups of disabled people.

They found that disabled people are at least 1.5 times more likely to feel lonely. This was true for every year between 2003 and 2020, every age group, and all types of disability.

The study also found that the type of disability can affect how lonely someone feels. This was true for intellectual or learning disabilities and for psychological disabilities. It was also true for people with brain injury and stroke. People with these types of disability were almost 3 times more likely to be lonely than non-disabled people.

This study confirms that disabled people are more likely to be lonely. It also found this has not changed in Australia for almost 20 years. We need inclusive services for people with disability. Future research will look at the reasons why disabled people are more likely to be lonely. It will also look at why this is not improving.

About the author:

Rosie (she/they) is a lived experience research assistant living with mental illness. She loves the challenge of pursuing her interests in literature and health sciences concurrently and is proudly the only poet-physiotherapist that she knows of.