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EFFECTS OF COVID 19 ON PEOPLE LIVING WITH DISABILITIES.
Covid 19 is a global pandemic whose impact has been greatly felt by masses of people from all walks at both collective and individual level during its half-year of existence. Its consequences have exponentially grown over wide regions because of its infectious nature. It is a respiratory virus affecting the respiratory body systems. It can easily be passed from one person to another through cough or sneezing droplets with close contact of less than a meter (Guidry-Grimes). It caught people by surprise. Since it is a highly infectious disease, before the states could explore more about the virus and develop mitigating measures, the coronavirus had caused serious health complications among people, registering deaths and deaths within a short span of time. Therefore, the virus is not selective and attacks anyone regardless of age, sex, and the rich, the poor, disabled, or healthy individuals. However, as much as societies were affected by the virus, people with disabilities were more susceptible to the virus. The coronavirus’s effects were more intense on disabled persons with underlying health conditions such as lung and heart diseases and a weak immune system. This paper explains how the Covid 19 pandemic has affected the health of people living with disabilities in the community, at workplaces, and institutions.
People with a disability find it very hectic to cope with the measures put forward for Covid 19 in the community. The disabled face challenges with social distancing as a measure of Covid 19. Those who are physically maimed and cannot support themselves but live by the mercies of caregivers and family members tend to suffer from isolation. Due to restrictions on contact and movements, they lack access to essential services and basic needs such as food and medicine (Emily M, 65). Besides, there are no people to help them carry out their physical activities such as bathing and therapies hence worsening their conditions. As community members try to embrace the one-meter rule, dependants for essential services tend to suffer the most. Additionally, disabled persons in institutions such as rehabilitation centers and orphanages face a violation of human rights such as restraint, isolation, violence, and neglect. Keeping social distance in these institutions is also a challenge because of the number of the disabled, making them at a high risk of contracting and spreading the virus, resulting in high death rates.
The health of people with disabilities is greatly at risk. According to (Sepulveda-Loyola, 1-10), it is because of a lack of proper health information and selective medical protocols that result in discrimination of the disabled during healthcare services. The most challenging aspect is access to information regarding pandemic measures. Public information concerning Covid 19 measures is not communicated to serve the disabled who have hearing and sight impairments. These people need information in sign language interpretation, fonts that are easy to read, and captioning. However, in some communities, these forms of communications have been overlooked, and the disabled are left vulnerable, with no information on how to conduct themselves during the pandemic.
Nevertheless, the workforce is also a limiting area for people with disabilities. Most of them are unfortunate when it comes to employment in the formal sectors. The few who are fortunate to be working with the formal sectors have significantly faced serious job loss challenges during the pandemic since they are considered to be less productive and cannot be flexible enough to adjust to various working conditions (Erin E). Being jobless with no other income source has psychologically tortured the disabled, and adding on to the existing health condition they already have, their health seriously deteriorates.
Accessibility to health information is a factor that has posed great challenges to disabled people. The prevalent pandemic requires measures to control and contain its spread. If measures such as wearing masks, washing hands, and keeping a social distance of one meter apart are not communicated to suit the disabled, they are left in the dark. Inaccessibility of such vital information leaves them uninformed about Covid hence vulnerable to its effects. Similarly, accommodation of the disabled in the community is another aspect that affects them. Most people in societies tend to shy away from associating with people with disabilities, having a notion that the disability can be transmitted. With such notions, the disabled suffer isolation and neglect with no one to come to their rescue, especially during the pandemic where people try to avoid contact as much as possible.
I used to think that people living with a disability are hard to handle from how I perceived and watched them behave. However, I managed to find myself in an orphanage as one of the caregivers. This provided me with an opportunity to explore the mannerisms and behaviors of people with various disabilities. It was a challenge at first, but with continued interaction with them, I managed to devise a mechanism for handling each disability. At the moment, I think that it is not as hard as I first thought because it only needs a change of attitude and someone to be patient and accommodative of them. This is because I once had a negative perception about handling the disabled until I changed my mindset and put myself in their shoes.
During the Covid 19 pandemics, there have emerged innovations regarding the management of disabilities. People have come up with easy handwashing and sanitizing methods such as automatic hand sanitizers that do not require any effort to press anything. The use of robots has also been adopted in some regions to avoid physical contact with the patients infected (Strandvik). This can also help the disabled, especially in providing basic needs such as food. The use of graphics and cartoons in communication instead of word of mouth enables the deaf to interpret and understand the information. Similarly, putting down the information in brails help the blind in accessing the intended information. Rehabilitation centers such as mental facilities have also come up with up-to-date measures that comply with the Covid 19 measure to ensure the safety of both the disabled, their caregivers, and the staff.
References.
Lund, Emily M. “Interpersonal violence against people with disabilities: Additional concerns and considerations in the COVID-19 pandemic.” Rehabilitation psychology 65.3 (2020): 199.
Andrews, Erin E., et al. “Nobody is expendable: Medical rationing and disability justice during the COVID-19 pandemic.” American Psychologist (2020).
Sepulveda-Loyola, W., et al. “Impact of social isolation due to COVID-19 on health in older people: Mental and physical effects and recommendations.” The journal of nutrition, health & aging (2020): 1-10.
Savin, Katie, and Laura Guidry-Grimes. “Confronting disability discrimination during the pandemic.” The Hastings Center (2020).
Heinonen, Kristina, and Tore Strandvik. “Reframing service innovation: COVID-19 as a catalyst for imposed service innovation.” Journal of Service Management (2020).