Disability and COVID-19 Twitter Chat – #DisabilityC19
On Monday 6 April between 11:00am and 12:30pm UK time (BST) we will hold a Twitter Chat on disability and COVID-19.
Read all about the Expert Tweeters who are joining the chat to share their knowledge and wisdom.
A Twitter Chat is where a group of Twitter users ‘meet’ at a pre-determined time to discuss a certain topic, using a designated hashtag (#DisabilityC19) for each tweet contributed.
The objectives of this chat are to:
- Help identify people, organisations and networks with expertise in disability and COVID-19 and source further resources
- Highlight the particular needs of people with disabilities and potential gaps in the COVID-19 messaging and response (with a focus on low- and middle-income countries)
- Explore how people with disabilities are being included in the COVID-19 response
Questions
The questions we will be asking are:
Q1: Who are credible sources for further information on COVID-19 and disability (globally and in different countries)?
Q2: What specific risks do people with disabilities and chronic illness face in relation to the COVID-19 response? What disabilities make people more vulnerable?
Q3: How can we make the messaging about COVID-19 appropriate for people with disabilities? For example, how can you maintain physical distance if you require personal care?
Q4: Are we producing health communication in appropriate formats, for example sign language? What more needs to be done?
Q5: What barriers do people with disabilities face in accessing treatment and care?
Q6: What steps are being taken to include the views and participation of people with disabilities in the COVID-19 response?
Q7: What are your questions on disability and COVID-19? Are there areas where you need expert advice?
We hope that you can attend. We will collect all of the tweets that contain the hashtag #DisabilityC19 in order to keep a record of the discussion. If appropriate we will collate lists of experts and resources. We will take note of questions from participants that have not received an answer and seek expert advice on these.
Faustina Urassa
04/04/2020 @ 16:20
During this COVID-19 era have we thought of how people with disabilities can be affected and can also affect others especially wheelchair users?
In African countries where there is poor infrastructures, people with disabilities need assistance to get places.
There is a big possibility of the wheelchair user to infect or get infected by the person assisting them if the assistant is infected he or she leaves the virus on the wheelchair handles and if the wheelchair user is assisted by another person the next person is most likely to contract the virus.
However, in Africa people with disabilities are left out completely I’m this wat to fight COVID-19. Most of them are poor of the poorer, they cannot access the information and also they cannot afford to buy soap to wash their hands or sanitizer to clean hands and their assistant.
Kate Hawkins
20/04/2020 @ 08:14
We agree with you that the voices and experiences of people with all types of disability are often ignored during crisis and we have to think about how to make responses inclusive. Making information accessible and adapted is critical and something that we need to work with Ministries of Health to achieve. Within this resource developed by CBM there are some key questions you can ask of officials in your country: https://www.mhinnovation.net/sites/default/files/downloads/resource/COVID%2019%20Resource%20pdf%20format_CBM-Global.pdf
Two examples of questions they suggest are:
1. What measures are you taking to ensure equal access to messaging, equal access to care as needed, and continuing access to supports during COVID19 pandemic?
2. What protocols have you put in place to ensure people with disabilities get the right support if in quarantine?
CBM have developed a guide for disability inclusive action that could be of some use in supporting an inclusive response and can be found here: https://www.cbm.org/news/news/news-2020/cbm-develops-disability-inclusive-community-action-covid-19-matrix/
We appreciate demanding some of these things is difficult as individuals, and particularly if you are not within a position of power within your society. Through networks of Disabled Persons’ Organisations collective action may be more possible.
The question you raise about caregivers and support for movement is a challenging one, and we understand this must be particularly difficult particularly where access to soap and anti-bacterial is challenging. There are some strategies within this document from India about how to support people with physical disabilities who may require support. The lessons here are from women in India: http://www.internationaldisabilityalliance.org/sites/default/files/covid_and_women_with_disabilities_in_india_-edited_1.pdf.
In reality, context specific advice on this issue is lacking and we would welcome further dialogue and recommendations on how to support people facing this issue.
Other useful disability and COVID resources can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IVP1u6yHfLuN9qNyLEct5-vtC0aqLKtKr-o-faAjves/edit#
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