Zoe Ranganathan said being able to readily access health professionals when needed was critical when living with a disability.
The disability officer at the Australian National University Students' Association, who has a form of auditory disorder, said seeing a regular team of medical staff was crucial should the need arise to help deal with the condition.
But after coronavirus restrictions and the lockdown measures that followed were enacted, that regular access was much harder to come by, impacting on the level of healthcare.
"That was the biggest impact of coronavirus for me in not being able to access that great support network. COVID has put a pause on that since March," Ms Ranganathan said.
It's a scenario countless others with disabilities in the ACT have experienced since the start of the coronavirus outbreak.
A new report, released today by Women With Disabilities ACT on the impact of coronavirus, revealed almost 75 per cent of those surveyed said their biggest concern during the outbreak was their mental health, followed by physical health.
The report found more than 50 per cent of respondents reported they did not know where to seek help for medical issues during the pandemic.
While just more than half of people in the report said they were able to access telehealth services, 41 per cent said there had been disruptions in regular medical care, while 47 per cent said there had been reduced contact with medical services.
Almost one-third of participants said there were disruptions to medical treatments they were going to receive before COVID-19 hit.
Some surveyed in the report said they felt they had been left behind by government support services or measures designed to help others during the virus outbreak.
Ms Ranganathan said in many instances, access for people with disabilities to many services wasn't considered.
"We definitely feel like we're left behind and an afterthought," she said.
"There have been changes to how people go about their day-to-day lives and it's disappointing how access was only seen as an afterthought."
We definitely feel like we're left behind and an afterthought.
Zoe Ranganathan
While major supermarkets brought in priority shopping hours specifically for people with disabilities and the elderly when panic-buying and empty shelves were at their peaks, some said the early hours for the scheme made it restrictive and inaccessible to many.
Many people who had taken part in the survey said they had felt left behind following the federal government's decision to exclude those who were on a disability support pension from the $550 coronavirus supplement payment.
"People with a disability are more likely than most to be impacted by COVID and not [be] able to work, so it makes no sense that we have been excluded from the supplement payment," one responder said.
Another said: "People with or caring for others with disabilities already face higher living costs associated with accessing aids and equipment needed to assist with daily living."
Ms Ranganathan said there was also a sense of frustration that services and accessibility requirements long lobbied for by people with disabilities were suddenly made available once the general population was affected.
"For years, people with chronic illnesses or those unable to leave home for whatever reason have been asking to be able to learn remotely at home," she said.
"People with disabilities were told that uni wasn't for them or to drop out because implementing online lessons was too costly. But as soon as the pandemic hits and it affects non-disabled people, unis were able to adapt within two weeks, which was disheartening. We felt that we weren't important enough for this to have been done beforehand."
Ms Ranganathan said despite the challenges of COVID-19, there were many aspects that were able to be taken forward once things returned to normal.
"There's a lot we can learn from the pandemic in how lifestyles change and I don't see why we can't continue learning online for students who need it," she said.
