Domitian, son of the war hero and emperor Vespasian and related to a large number of Roman soldiers, should logically have found himself as a young man in the army. His repeated requests to serve, however, were all denied, reportedly from fear of his political ambitions. A more immediate reason may have been physical inadequacy. Suetonius writes of Domitian's malformed toes, and of a lingering disease – here we suggest polio – that left Domitian with thin legs. Residual weakness and chronic pain could explain Domitian's preference for a litter and his perceived unsuitability for military service. His martial interests and desire to display virtus, manly courage, however, never wavered, and found their outlet in archery, a skill requiring dexterity of hand rather than fast footwork. Hostile writers played on this skill by relating it to an alleged habit of spearing flies for pleasure. Modern scholars may find the suggestion of a chronic disability useful in considering his character.

This is a collection of original articles on diverse vulnerable populations in Japan in the wake of the new coronavirus pandemic. The effects of COVID-19 are felt differently, with some among us at much greater risk of infection due to preexisting health and welfare conditions. For others, perhaps more than the risk of infection, it is the precautions taken to mitigate the risk for the whole population, such as lockdowns and business closures, that have pulled away the already fragile safety net of state and civil society organization (CSO) support, leading to increased marginalization and social exclusion. The goal of this set of papers is to document the conditions of those that have been most directly affected by the virus and to provide background on the conditions that made them vulnerable in the first place, notably chronic conditions that are brought into more obvious relief in light of emergency measures. Each of the authors had a pre-established relationship with those affected populations and employed various ethnographic approaches, some face to face, others digitally via Zoom interviews and SNS exchanges. In this moment of what appears to be relative calm, we hope that our collection, quickly compiled in an attempt to capture the ever-changing situation, will give some insight into how those most vulnerable are faring in this time of crisis and provide information that will allow us to prepare better before the next wave comes our way.

The spread of COVID–19 across Japan has exacerbated accessibility issues born out of the nation's past, creating difficulties for disabled people in the present and anxieties about the future. In this article, I consider some of the historical contingencies and geopolitical circumstances that have fueled a precarious pipeline to risk and institutionalization for many disabled individuals. My analysis reveals how inadequate installation and inappropriate use of accommodations like ramps and elevators in various public venues has prevented disabled people from obtaining key supplies. It suggests that some disabled people have survived the current moment by relying on professional caregivers, but others have been unable to do so due to service cancellations and fear of contagion.

For individuals without support networks, assisted living facilities have offered a means of survival. However, many assisted living facilities have long grappled with funding issues and lack of willing workers. Accordingly, their residents have been exposed to neglect, abuse, and now, viral infection.

Aware of the situation, government officials have instituted emergency policies to provide disabled people and assisted living facilities with personal protective equipment and flexible financing. And yet, as activists have argued, those policies have often failed to pan out in practice. The future of disability in Japan remains uncertain. But as I suggest, the current crisis is our chance to intervene. I contend that we must use this opportunity to identify and resolve barriers to accessibility in Japan and build an inclusive society for domestic and international populations of disabled individuals.

This essay argues that what distinguishes a negatively valenced phenomenal experience from suffering is an ability to make meaning of the experience. In this sense, intellectual ability influences the extent and nature of suffering. But this connection is not a straightforward one, since intellectual ability cuts both ways. On the one hand, those with higher levels of intellectual functioning are better able to make meaning of negative experiences, thereby reducing their suffering. On the other, intellectual ability can influence the depth and breadth of one’s negative experiences, thereby increasing suffering. This means that we cannot make any assumptions about a person’s susceptibility to suffering based on their level of intellectual functioning alone.

In a recent think piece for the new-music media site I Care If You Listen, the London-based writer and director Jessica Bailey advocates for accessible notation practices in classical-music pedagogy (‘Earned, Not Learned: How Classical Music Notation is Not Built for Neurodivergent Students’ https://icareifyoulisten.com/2024/06/classical-music-notation/ (18 June 2024)). As an avid pianist with Nonverbal Learning Disorder, Bailey finds numbers and symbols more challenging than words and letters, and she recounts how forbidding conventional music notation was for her. Bailey developed her own workarounds, but advanced music study was essentially off limits. She now wonders what doors might be opened to her and other neurodivergent musicians through even small adjustments to notation systems. Drawing a connection between the accessible pre-grade piano-method books of her childhood and modern digital solutions like Lime Lighter and the Odla tactile console, Bailey ponders how notation technologies might help us ‘reimagine and re-programme the sheet music model’.

The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of common mental disorder (CMD; depression/anxiety) symptoms and risky substance use in people with epilepsy in Ethiopia (four districts) on quality of life (QoL) and functioning over 6 months. A prospective cohort study was carried out. Multivariable linear regression followed by structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed. In the multivariable regression model, neither CMD symptoms (β coef. = −0.37, 95% confidence interval [CI] −1.30, +0.55) nor moderate to high risk of alcohol use (β coef. = −0.70, 95% CI −9.20, +7.81) were significantly associated with a change in QoL. In SEM, the summative effect of CMD on QoL was significant (B = −0.27, 95% CI −0.48, −0.056). Change in functional disability was not significantly associated with common mental disorder (CMD) symptoms (β coef. = −0.03, 95% CI −0.48, +0.54) or with moderate to high risk of alcohol use (β coef. = −1.31, 95% CI −5.89, 3.26). In the SEM model, functional disability was predicted by both CMD symptoms (B = 0.24, 95% CI 0.06, 0.41) and seizure frequency (B = 0.67, 95% CI 0.46, 0.87). In this rural Ethiopian setting, co-morbid CMD symptoms and seizure frequency independently predicted functional disability in people with epilepsy.

The story of Mary and Martha is a “text of terror” for women and the mentally disabled, elevating Martha as emblematic of the spiritual failure of the anxious woman. While scholarship has focused upon the precise nature of Martha’s work, this article argues that whether Martha was in the kitchen or doing ministry, she was doing servile labor and incurring the “slavish” worry associated with such work. Attention to the socio-economic context of Martha’s worry recenters the labor dispute that is at the heart of this short passage. Rather than naturalizing ancient norms about worry or continuing to use the disabled body as something to “think with,” this article contextualizes Martha’s “worry and distraction,” demonstrating the ties between the female body, worry, anxiety, and enslaved labor in antiquity. Martha’s worry is a disability that is manufactured by unjust labor structures that purposefully assign worry to some bodies and not others.

Affordable, good quality childcare creates opportunities for many parents to better reconcile work and care or reduces family care to enable other valuable contributions to society. However, childcare studies often overlook parents of children with additional or complex care needs. These parents spend a greater amount of time on caregiving, providing care that goes beyond that of parents of typically developing children. As such, their opportunities beyond caregiving can be limited. Resources, like childcare services, can be crucial in supporting the reconciliation of care with other valued activities in life. This article contributes to the cross-national childcare policy literature by conceptualizing comparative indicators to assess the availability, accessibility, and affordability of childcare policy design for children with additional or complex care needs. It then applies these indicators to a comparison of childcare policy design in England and the Netherlands, providing an operationalization for further empirical analysis.

The introduction of portable MRI (pMRI) has the potential to directly impact dementia research and ultimately clinical care. In this paper, we explore two ethical challenges facing the introduction of pMRI in dementia research. The first is the need to ensure that pMRI enhances rather than undermines efforts aimed at improving ethnoracial representation in dementia research. The second is the need to implement pMRI in dementia research in a dementia-friendly way that attends to the social context and lived experience of people with dementia.

Employment rates of people with and without disabilities differ substantially in most countries, and policymakers have tried, with mixed effects, to reduce this gap through different policy measures. However, studies show that governance and managerial reforms also affect implementation of policy. In this study, we examine how the Danish large-scale administrative reform of 2007 has affected the role and structure of the approach of the public employment system (PES) to unemployed people with disabilities. Using Pollitt and Bouckeart’s framework on reform effects, we report on a document analysis of policy papers and a 2019 survey of caseworkers and disability keypersons (N = 453). The analysis identifies few and vague objectives on a process and systems level, with the overall goal being more coherent service delivery. Specifically, a new division of tasks between the state and municipal level was established, including the creation of a disability keyperson at the municipal level to inform and guide job centre colleagues in assisting unemployed with disabilities. In practice, most of the keypersons were doing administrative casework and placed in sections focussed on unemployed with a reduced work ability. Hence, we identify a mismatch between objectives and implementation, questioning whether service delivery has become more coherent.

Introduction: Frailty is a common condition among older individuals and is associated with increased vulnerability to adverse health outcomes. The COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted the impact of viral infections on frail individuals.

Objectives: This study assessed the functional and clinical analysis changes in frail patients before and after SARS- CoV-2. This study evaluated the functional and clinical changes in frailty patients before and after SARS-CoV-2 infection in a cohort of 20 frailty patients of a long-stay facility.

Methods: Demographic, clinical, and functional data, including the Barthel index, Katz index, and Mini-Mental Examination, were collected. Clinical analyses were also conducted, including a complete blood count and biochemical profile. The functional and clinical analyses were compared before and after SARS-CoV-2 infection using t-tests. Pearson’s correlation was used to analyze the relationship between functionality, frailty, and clinical biomarkers.

Results: The cohort had a mean age of 84 ± 2.42 years, with 80% female. The most common comorbidities were Arterial Hypertension, Diabetes Mellitus type II, and Alzheimer’s disease. The functional assessment showed a significant increase in functional dependence on basic activities of daily living after the SARS-CoV-2 infection. Significant differences were also observed in grooming, bowel, and bladder control. Clinicals biomarkers, such as albumin, showed substantial changes post-infection.

Conclusions: The findings indicate worsening functional dependence and changes in clinical biomarkers after an illness. These results emphasize the need for targeted interventions and support for frail individuals during viral outbreaks. Further research is warranted to explore the long-term consequences of COVID-19 on frailty and develop strategies to mitigate its impact.