Can you imagine living through this COVID-19 pandemic if you had limits on your physical or intellectual abilities?
Many in our community depend on other people as part of their daily routine. These individuals and families receive care from various workers from a variety of settings. The care they receive is vital to meet their physical needs and their safety, but it’s important for their social needs as well. Some families, who now have less or no supports because of COVID-19, are also missing out on meaningful respite and are shouldering an even greater task while still taking care of their own physical and emotional needs.
As COVID-19 changes the way we live, we must recognize how these changes put people who experience disabilities at a higher risk for COVID-19.
Think about this…
The way home visits are done has changed.
Physical care is being done by health care workers who are dressed head to toe in personal protective equipment. Now, every touch is gloved and every smile is masked.
- If this was your only human interaction in a day, how would that feel?
- What if physical care made you feel vulnerable before COVID-19, how would you feel now?
Other supports have switched to online service.
- If you received very limited income from Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), how would you afford the internet and technology needed for these online visits?
- If this was your only way to connect with others and you couldn’t afford the bill, how would that feel? Social isolation was a big thing before COVID-19, now it’s even bigger.
Living with a disability can be challenging. Dealing with the COVID-19 situation is challenging. People who have limited physical or intellectual ability and their family caregivers are in an even more difficult situation because their communication, networks, participation and access have been affected.
Many of our community members living with disabilities, and their families, rely on different systems to help meet their basic needs – systems that are often already under-funded and under-resourced. This makes them more vulnerable to COVID-19.
CK Public Health has been working hard to ensure that we provide information in a variety of ways for different audiences, for example through videos with closed captioning, radio interviews, graphics, and written articles. Our website has a menu that people can use to toggle settings to make it better fit their needs (just click the blue & white person button in the top right corner). We are collaborating with local community partners to meet the needs of all of our community members the best we can.
But, the truth is, COVID-19 is shining a light on systems within our society that have not been sufficiently resourced. This has put many people in very difficult positions long before COVID-19 came around.
Let’s use this pandemic as a chance to learn and work towards improving the conditions and systems that put people at risk for poor health.
Resources:
To learn more about issues affecting people with disabilities during this pandemic, check out this virtual Town Hall recording from the AODA Alliance and Ontario Autism Coalition.
Looking for resources and tools? Check out Ontario Autism Coalition COVID-19 website.
For local resources for people living with disabilities, see the Municipality of Chatham-Kent website.
For more about the factors that impact our health visit our Health Equity Matters webpage.
Other Articles in the Can You Imagine Series
Living through COVID-19 in a different country?
Living through COVID-19 if you didn’t feel safe in your home?
Living through COVID-19 if you already felt alone?