Disability and COVID-19: What did we learn from the Twitter Chat
On 6 April, @ARISEHub hosted a Twitter Chat on Disability and COVID-19. It brought together people with disabilities, disabled persons organisations, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), and other experts from around the globe to discuss issues affecting people with disabilities. The chat was organised around seven questions. The objectives of the chat were 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
We went through all of the Tweets from the Chat and synthesised them. We organised the learning into different categories. All this week we will be publishing a series of blogs on:
- Risks and vulnerability related to disability and COVID-19
- Barriers to health care related to disability and COVID-19
- Advocacy and action by people with disabilities about COVID-19
- Structural violence, ableism and COVID-19
- Disability and COVID-19: What guidance is available and where are there gaps?
Click here to read the first blog in the series.
The Tweets were summarised by Laura Dean, Kate Hawkins, Sally Theobald, Kim Ozano and Rachel Tolhurst. We are compiling a list of all the Twitter users who participated in the Chat to recognise their inputs and as a useful resource for those organising around these issues.
Risks and vulnerability related to disability and COVID-19 - Arise
14/04/2020 @ 14:11
[…] <<Find out more about this series of blogs on disability and COVID-19 […]
Barriers to health care related to disability and COVID-19 - Arise
15/04/2020 @ 08:46
[…] the second blog of a series that summarises learning from our Twitter Chat on Disability and COVID-19 we discuss barriers to health care. Participants in the Chat emphasised that there are multiple […]
Ruth Acheinegeh
15/04/2020 @ 17:34
Women with disabilities cannot be held on pause. Now. For the past few weeks, we have all been glued to our different media and information platforms to listen to the daily press briefings of our governments. We must recognize the media for its efficiency in that the media has managed to reassure and inform the general population. The scale of the problem and the urgency to act undoubtedly calls for substantial action. The adopted measures are direct expressions of these decisions. However, this global response led by the public health for the “good of all” puts certain groups of the population at risk, including persons with disabilities, who experience a flagrant lack of support and resources to meet their basic needs. They are rendered invisible; they are never specifically named in press conferences and their cry of alarm is growing on social network platforms Persons with disabilities constitute 15% and represent the largest social minority in the world and specifically English Cameroon in West Africa. At this moment, access to services in crisis situations is inequitable. According to Dr. Arruda, it is important to adapt the response to COVID-19 in the light of everyone’s needs, this should also apply to the realities of people with disabilities. It is vital that they receive the human, technical and material support on which their survival and security depends. Even if we can,t understand the intention behind the Governments’ explanation regarding assistance distribution and having to “put them on pause” for an indefinite period, people with disabilities cannot endure this “pause” without putting their health at risk, and jeopardizing their survival.
Kate Hawkins
15/04/2020 @ 17:59
Dear Ruth, thank you for sharing your views and raising the alarm about this. I will circulate your comment to colleagues and through social media.
Advocacy and action by people with disabilities about COVID-19 - Arise
16/04/2020 @ 07:46
[…] articulated and rarely met by the response to the pandemic. In this third blog that summarises our Twitter Chat on disability and COVID-19 we further explore these […]
Structural violence, ableism and COVID-19 - Arise
17/04/2020 @ 06:09
[…] is the fourth blog in our series on disability and COVID-19. In this blog we summarise learning from a Twitter Chat that was held earlier in the […]
Looking ahead: What can we do to support disability inclusion in the COVID-19 response? - Arise
20/04/2020 @ 14:07
[…] is the last blog in our series of learning from the Twitter Chat we hosted on 6 April. We would like to take this time to thank all our contributors and […]
The road ahead: What can we do to support disability inclusion in the COVID-19 response? - Arise
20/04/2020 @ 14:22
[…] is the last blog in our series of learning from the Twitter Chat we hosted on 6 April. There is a lot already happening to promote the inclusion of people with […]
Content that was hot in 2020 - Arise
24/12/2020 @ 15:17
[…] 5. Our disability and COVID-19 Twitter Chat […]