Community responses to LGBT+ adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities during the COVID-19 confinement in Madrid.

Abstract

A group of 50 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) as well as diverse sexualities and gender identities in Madrid participated in a feminist community-based project, which supported them through the first wave of the pandemic. Facilitated by professionals, the project offered online meetings twice a month, helping them to articulate their needs and promote their agency over their choices and experiences. Based on their demands, participants chose the topics they wanted to discuss, proposed activities, and were the center of the program, while facilitators set up and maintained the online space, helping with participation and access to information and resources. Through this transformative experience, the members of the group developed friendship networks and started their activism, making public appearances in video campaigns and mainstream newspapers to make their needs visible to peers, families, social workers, policy makers, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). This research is part of a larger project that tackles the psychosocial factors that affected Spanish people with sexual and gender diversity during the first wave of the pandemic.