Indian Journal of Educational Technology
Volume 4, Issue 2, July 2022

85

Research Article

Online Education during COVID-19 Pandemic: Challenges for 
Children with Disabilities

Tania Farooq1 & Shazia Manzoor2

1Doctoral Scholar, Department of Social Work, University of Kashmir,
Jammu & Kashmir

2Associate Professor, Department of Social Work, University of Kashmir,
Jammu & Kashmir

Email: shaaz18@gmail.com

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit hard every aspect of life and has affected everyone 
disproportionately. Due to its viral and contagious behaviour, it forced the closure of 
educational institutions including those working for children with disabilities. In Kashmir, 
the schools were closed in March, 2020 and were reopened for a very brief period in 
March 2021, following a subsequent lockdown in March 2021 only. Consequently, the 
educational institutions resorted to an online mode of education to avoid any academic 
losses for the students. While this decision seemed a viable option, the vulnerable 
groups like children with disabilities and children enrolled in special schools found it 
difficult to cope with this medium of education. This is particularly for students with 
visual disabilities, developmental disabilities and hearing and speech impairments. 
In this regard, this paper is an attempt to unravel the experiences of parents of this 
vulnerable group. We have followed a qualitative methodology and interviewed twenty 
parents of children with different disabilities to explore their experiences of the online 
mode of education and its implications for their children with disabilities. 

Keywords: Online classes, COVID-19, children with disabilities, Kashmir

Introduction

Online education has been seen as 
a promising agent in creating new 
opportunities for students, faculty and 
educational institutions (Mayadas, 
Bourne & Bacsich, 2009). With the 
invention of the World Wide Web in 
1992, the online mode of education was 
made more accessible and it also paved 
for more pedagogical models to emerge 
(Harasim, 2000). Online Learning can 
be understood as a tool which can 
aid in making the ‘teaching-learning 
process more student-centered, more 
innovative, and even more flexible’ 
(Dhawan,2020) and is defined as 
‘learning experiences in synchronous 
or asynchronous environments using 
different devices (e.g., mobile phones, 

laptops, etc.) with internet access’ (Singh 
& Thurman, 2019 as cited in Dhawan, 
2020, p.7). However, the different 
terms and arguments related to online 
learning like accessibility, affordability, 
flexibility, learning pedagogy, life-long 
learning, and policy (Dhawan, 2020) 
have a correlation with the target group 
under consideration. 

Children of all ages and from all 
countries are affected by this pandemic, 
and among them, vulnerable groups 
like children with disabilities need extra 
care and protection in these times (UN 
Policy Brief, 2020). Schiariti (2020) says 
that in times of a crisis, ‘children with 
disabilities face additional challenges as 
a result of their functional limitations; 
but most importantly, the many barriers 



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that society throws in their way’ (p.661). 
During the times of crisis, they are most 
likely to be excluded and left behind 
from basic services like education and 
health (UNRWA, 2020). They may have 
diverse needs in times of this pandemic 
that may go unnoticed. They can 
become more vulnerable in these times 
as they may have greater needs for 
healthcare, an increased dependency 
on community-based services and 
concerns regarding mental health 
(Aishworiya & Kang, 2020). Similarly, 
(Asbury et al., 2021) discuss how parents 
and children in the UK have experienced 
loss, worry and changes in mood due to 
the social changes that have occurred. 
Children with disabilities, especially 
those with sensory impairments can 
face barriers in the access to inclusive 
public health information that relates 
to the preventive measure during these 
times and can face barriers to essential 
services and basic WASH facilities may 
also be rendered unavailable to them 
because of poverty and other barriers 
in accessing these services (UNICEF, 
2020). The parents of children with 
disabilities may be equally vulnerable 
during these times and can face various 
psychological problems (Provenzi et al., 
2020 a). It may be due to the interruption 
in daily rehabilitation services and lack 
of recreational opportunities along with 
the burden of caring for their ‘child with 
special needs’ and balancing their work-
life (Provenzi, Grumi, Borgatti,2020 b).

Another important aspect here pertains 
to the education of children with 
disabilities. The pandemic has forced 
the closure of schools across the world, 
with India being no exception to it. The 
closure of schools has impacted the 
overall system of education for children 
and online modes of education are seen 
as a viable option. But at the same time, 
there are various problems associated 
with such a mode of education as 
students who are not privileged can 
suffer due to these digital modes of 

education (Jena, 2020). In the same 
line, online modes of education may 
not be a viable option for children 
with disabilities and their parents. As 
Masonbrink & Hurley, (2020) note that 
the closing of schools indicates a loss of 
critical resources and special educators 
for children with disabilities, also their 
parents are less likely to be equipped 
with resources to maintain remote 
learning. Students with disabilities are 
less likely to be benefitted from the 
distance learning teaching methods as 
they mostly rely on face-to-face services 
(UN Policy Brief, 2020). 

Review of Literature

Garbe et al., (2020) have conducted a 
study to understand the experiences 
of the parents with remote learning. 
The study was conducted using an 
online survey and thematic coding was 
done to understand the perception and 
experiences of 112 parents during the 
COVID-19 school closure. The findings 
revealed that the parents were satisfied 
with the decision of the school closure 
and the level of support provided, 
yet they faced problems in certain 
areas which included problems while 
balancing responsibilities, motivation of 
the learner and outcomes of learning.   

Zhang et al., (2020) have conducted 
a study to understand the impact 
of COVID-19 on the students with 
disabilities and their health concerns. 
The study was done with 147 students 
out of which 119 were without disabilities 
and 28 were students with disabilities/ 
health concerns. The analysis has 
revealed that students with disabilities 
faced more problems and adjustments 
with the online mode of learning than 
their non-disabled counterparts. 
They also faced more COVID- related 
adversities than their counterparts. 
The study also revealed the anxiety and 
worry among students with disabilities 
vis-à-vis online learning and its impact 
on their grades and financial concerns. 



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A study done by (Amor et al., 2020) 
explores the impact of COVID-19 
on with people having Intellectual 
Developmental Disabilities (IDD) and the 
response employed in Spain during the 
period of lockdown. The sample for the 
study was 582 individuals with IDD who 
shared their perspectives on COVID-19 
and its consequences. The analysis has 
revealed that support was conditioned 
by the living contexts. The participants 
living in certain conditions had less 
natural supports while participants 
who lived with their families had relied 
on it. The participants had received 
information regarding the COVID-19 
from the organizations working for the 
disabled, friends, groups, family and in 
some cases from health care centres. 

Methodology 

This study used a qualitative 
methodology to understand the 
perception of teachers and parents 
regarding the online system of 
education and its implications on 
children with disabilities. Qualitative 
data are a source of well-grounded 
rich descriptions of social processes 
(Miles, Huberman & Saldana, 2014). 
A qualitative approach was found to 
suit best to this study as this approach 
‘looks deep into the quality of social life. 
It locates the study within particular 
settings, which provides opportunities 
for exploring all possible social variables, 
and set manageable boundaries’ 
(Holliday, 2016) pp.6. Additionally, non-
probability and purposive sampling 
techniques were used to identify the 
participants. The aim of qualitative 
studies is not to generalization but to get 
a nuanced analysis of the phenomena 
being studied (Sandelowski, 1995). 
The inclusion criteria were parents of 
children enrolled in special schools in 
Kashmir.  

1. Data Collection and Analysis

The data was collected through semi-
structured in-depth interviews that were 
done by the first author. The interviews 
were tape-recorded with the prior 
permission of the participants and also 
notes were taken simultaneously. At 
the onset, the purpose of the interviews 
was explained and the meetings were 
set according to the convenience of 
the participants. Due to the present 
circumstances of COVID-19, meeting 
all the participants at home was not 
possible. So, telephonic interviews were 
preferred and as such interviews were 
conducted accordingly.  

The recorded interviews were 
transcribed and translated from 
Kashmiri to English. The transcripts were 
read thoroughly and then coded. After 
the initial set of codes was identified, 
we then devised categories and from 
these categories were narrowed down 
to three major themes.

2. Ethical Consideration

All the ethical issues were taken into 
consideration. Informed consent was 
taken from all the participants. The 
purpose of the interviews was made 
clear to all the participants. We also 
discussed their right to withdraw 
from the interview at any stage. The 
interviews were tape-recorded with the 
prior permission of the participants and 
pseudonyms are used for this paper.

Participants

The participants for this study were 
the parents of children with disabilities 
who are enrolled in special schools in 
Kashmir. The detailed description is 
given in Table 1 below.
Table-1: Description of Participants



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88

S. 
No.

Pseudonym Occupation of 
Husband/Wife 

Gender 
of Child

Age of 
Child 

Type of 
Disability in 
Child

1 Ahmad (F1) and 
Asifa (M1)

Business/ 
Housewife

Male 13 Years Down’s 

Syndrome
2 Feroz (F2) and 

Haseena (M2)
Government 
Job/Housewife

Female 9 years Down’s 
Syndrome

3 Heena (M3) 
(Divorced)

Private Job Female 10 years Autism 

4 Ali (F4) and 
Mansha (M4)

Govt. Job/ 
Teacher 

Male 12 years Learning 
Disability 

5 Fahad (F5) and 
Hafsa(M5)

Private Job/ 
Housewife

Female 8 years Learning 
Disability 

6 Showkat (F6) 
and Fatima(M6)

Govt. Job/ 
Housewife

Male 11 years Learning 
Disability

7 Sahil (F7) and 
Bushra (M7)

Business/ 
Private Job

Male 6 years Down’s 
Syndrome

8 Fayaz (F8) and 
Snober (M8)

Govt. job/ 
Housewife

Female 12 years Hearing 
Impairment 

9 Rasiq (F9) and 
Zareena (M9)

Business/ Govt. 
Job

Male 8 years Autism

10 Hilal (F10) and 
Shagufta (M10)

Govt. Job/ 
Teacher 

Male 14 years Visual 
Impairment 

11 Shiraz (F11) 
and Tehseensa 
(M11)

Business/ 
Private Job

Male 11 years Visual 
Impairment

12 Shoaib (F12) 
and Gazala 
(M12)

Private Job/ 
Housewife

Male 10 years Down’s 
Syndrome

13 Aijaz (F13) and 
Sabreena (M13)

Govt. Job/ 
Housewife

Female 14 years Visual 
Impairment 

14 Athar (F14) and 
Beenish (M14)

Teacher/ Bank 
Employee

Male 9 years Down’s 
Syndrome

15 Shariq (F15) and 
Afroza (M15)

Govt. Job/ 
Housewife

Female 5 years Visual 
Impairment 

16 Manzoor (F16) 
and Amina(M16) 

Teacher/ 
Housewife

Male 7 years Down’s 
Syndrome 

17 Bashir (F17) and 
Rizwana (M17)

Farmer/ 
Housewife

Male 10 years Visual 
Impairment 

18 Alim (F18) and 
Tahira (M18)

Govt. Job/ 
Housewife

Female 9 years Autism

19 Shakeeb (F19) 
and Nisa(M19)

Business/ 
Housewife

Female 10 years Down’s 
Syndrome 



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20 Waseem (F20) 
and Bisma 
(M20)

Teacher/ 
Housewife 

Female 12 years Down’s 
Syndrome 

Findings

After analyzing the data, three themes 
were identified that narrate the 
perspectives and experiences of the 
participants. The themes are:

1. Challenges with Online Mode of 
education.

2. Issues of Accessibility and 
Satisfaction with the Classes

3. The Financial Burden.

1. Challenges with Online Mode of 
Education: 

The online mode of education has 
brought various challenges with it. The 
COVID-19 pandemic has forced the 
current system of education to switch 
to online mode. Various studies have 
concluded how the online mode of 
education has burdened the parents, 
teachers and students. Within this, 
children with disabilities and their 
parents form a vulnerable group 
who face different problems than 
mainstream society. As M6, shares the 
experience of their son with online 
classes as:

My son is not able to understand 
anything through the online mode 
of education. The teachers try hard 
to keep him engaged but he is 
unable to cope with this. 

Sharing similar thoughts F2 says that:

Our daughter has Down’s 
Syndrome. She was enrolled in a 
special school which she attended 
regularly. But due to the lockdown, 
she is unable to go to school. Now 
she is attending her classes online 
which are not of any benefit to her. 

Some of the parents shared their 
concern about how they felt that the 
online mode of education was a difficult 
and different process to understand for 
them. As M5 shares:

I am not able to use and adapt to 
these online classes. How can I 
expect my child to understand this? 
It is very different form of learning. 
Earlier our children used to be at 
school and we only helped them 
with their homework but now we 
have to sit with them continuously 
and learn everything along. 

Similarly, F15 shares that:

The earlier system of education 
was one-to-interaction, especially 
for students with disabilities. Now, 
the virtual mode has changed this 
concept altogether. Adapting to 
this routine has become difficult for 
both parents as well as children. 

Sharing the concern regarding the 
online mode of education M9 says that:

My child has autism. He used to go 
to a centre for special kids. He was 
showing good progress. But with 
this online mode of education, his 
progress has suffered. He is not 
benefiting from these online classes 
as he does not make eye contact 
and does not look at the screen 
continuously. He needs one to one 
sessions.

Some of the parents discussed how the 
teachers had advised them to engage 
in the sessions and teach their children 
afterwards. M11 says that:

My child has a visual disability. He 
uses braille, and these online classes 
are of no help to him. His teachers 



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told us that we should learn braille 
so that teaching him would be easy. 
But they don’t understand that 
learning it is equally difficult for me. 

2. Issues of Accessibility and 
Financial Implications.

The second theme discusses the digital 
accessibility barriers that the parents 
faced.  The theme also explored the 
satisfaction that the parents felt with 
the online mode of education for their 
children. The narratives point out how 
access to resources like smartphones 
and high-speed internet had impacted 
them. F6 shares that:

After the lockdown was announced, 
we got a call from the school 
authorities regarding the conducting 
of online classes. Accordingly, we 
had to arrange a new smartphone 
for her so that she would not skip 
her classes. 

Accessibility becomes an important 
issue while we discuss using online 
modes of education. Here M6 shares 
that:

Kashmir is a conflict zone. We have 
witnessed frequent shutdowns 
and internet blockades. When the 
pandemic started there was only 
2G internet for some months which 
aggravated our stress.

Regarding the financial implications of 
the online classes, F12 shares that:

We don’t have access to broadband, 
high-speed internet or costly 
phones. I am a poor person and 
I cannot manage all these things. 
Initially, my son missed all his 
classes because of this, then we had 
to arrange a smartphone for him. 

M3 shares that:

I have three children and I am 
divorced for 5 years now. Keeping 

three separate smartphones for my 
children is not possible for me. My 
younger daughter was enrolled in a 
special school, but she had to skip 
her classes for two months because 
I didn’t have a separate phone for 
her. Then a local NGO gave us a 
phone.  

In the same line, F17 says that:

They switched to the online mode 
of education without realizing the 
implications for poor people. They 
didn’t provide us with smartphones, 
but expected our children to attend 
the classes regularly.

3. Satisfaction with the Classes

An important point of discussion here 
remains the satisfaction of parents 
and students with the online mode of 
learning. In the previous themes, it was 
discussed how the parents had gone to 
any length to arrange the resources for 
their children so that they won’t miss 
any of their classes or sessions. But, 
of equal importance remains here to 
understand their level of satisfaction. 
Here F10 says that:

The online mode of education 
demands time management and 
other resources. It may prove fruitful 
to students without disabilities but 
not for our children. 

F8 shares that:

I feel that assessment of progress 
through this online medium is not 
valid and up to the mark. But the 
current pandemic has forced us to 
do so. 

In the same line M16 shares that:

Even the teachers are unable to 
devise appropriate content for 
children with disabilities. This 
mode of education has difficulty in 
meeting the academic discipline...
but what else can be done is the 



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need of the hour.

Drawing a contrast between her 
disabled and non-disabled children, 
M20 says that:

I have four children, three among 
them are non-disabled. They can 
manage their classes well and 
learn something new every day. 
But as far as my daughter with a 
disability is concerned, she is not 
able to cope with the online classes. 
Their curriculum is different from 
mainstream schools. As such they 
are not able to benefit much from 
these classes.

Sharing a different experience M14 says 
that: 

I am a working woman and I have 
two children. My elder son can 
manage his classes on his own. But 
my younger son has a disability and 
he is not able to manage it. I am also 
not able to help him out as I have a 
full-time job. This has been a source 
of stress for me. I don’t know if he is 
benefitting from his online sessions 
or not. 

Adding to this F19 says that:

The teachers of this Institute are 
really good and hardworking. My 
daughter takes her classes through 
an NGO working for children with 
disabilities. They also make home 
visits once a week to ensure that her 
progress is not hampered. 

The parents discussed how they were 
not fully satisfied with the online mode 
of classes for their children, yet we’re 
quick to add how it was the only option 
during the current pandemic. At the 
same time, we observed how they were 
discussing that the school authorities 
and respective governments should 
take appropriate measures and steps 
to ensure that children with disabilities 
are not left out and their progress is not 
hampered. 

Discussion

The themes that have emerged from the 
analysis of data have shown how parents 
of children with disabilities in Kashmir 
are struggling with the online mode of 
education. There are many problems 
associated with this mode of education, 
as the satisfaction with classes, financial 
implications and issues of accessibility. 
The participants of our study were 
not satisfied with the online mode of 
education, yet they were quick to add 
that studying in this manner was the 
need of the hour. Here, it is important 
to understand that the needs of 
vulnerable groups during the times of a 
pandemic should be considered. But we 
note how children with disabilities were 
left out of the intervention strategies 
that were followed to minimize the 
academic losses. For students with 
disabilities, ‘individual learning plans’ 
are deemed best to create student-
centric learning. But this was by large 
compromise as we switched to an online 
mode of education. Additionally, the 
other barriers like financial implications 
need to be noted, as were discussed 
by the participants of this study. Here, 
children with disabilities from lower 
socio-economic strata faced additional 
vulnerabilities as their parents struggled 
to arrange uninterrupted internet 
and smartphones for them. Children 
with disabilities are at particular risk 
of academic losses as schools have 
resorted to online modes of education. 
COVID-19 can have an adverse impact on 
children’s education as extended school 
closure may lead to lower educational 
attainment (Psacharopoulos et.al, 2020; 
Masonbrink & Hurley, 2020). 

Conclusion

In this paper, we have focused on 
the experiences of parents having 
children with disabilities vis-a-vis online 
mode of education. We have used a 
qualitative methodology to explore 
their experiences of the online mode 



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of education and its implications for 
their children with disabilities. The 
narratives point out the difficulties 
encountered by the participants and 
some narratives show how some 
children with disabilities struggle with 
the online mode of education. It is also 
known that the COVID-19 pandemic has 
disrupted every aspect of life and has 
created disequilibrium in all the phases 
of living. The current pandemic has 
affected everyone disproportionately. It 
has led to the closure of schools, thus 
forcing the students to take classes 
online. The current system of education 
has not considered the concerns of 

young children with disabilities who are 
enrolled in different special schools. 
This category of students is not able 
to fully benefit from this mode of 
education and thus may lag behind. This 
pandemic is not going to end any time 
soon, so the mainstream population 
has devised ways and means to adapt 
and adjust accordingly. So, the concerns 
of students with disabilities, particularly 
young students with disabilities should 
be taken into consideration.
(Acknowledgment: The authors would like 
to thank ICSSR, New Delhi for supporting 
this work.)

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