COVID19: Lockdown how it is affecting people with disabilities

While Covid-19 has exposed the vulnerabilities of the disenfranchised in our country, once again the invisibility of persons with disability has come to the fore. India has over 150 million persons with disabilities (30 million with severe disabilities) approx. 120 million of senior citizens and 85 million super senior citizens, i.e. persons above the age of 80. Each of these three groups comprise persons with partial or complete dependency on others for their daily needs, mobility and access to resources and information. This is the case in normal times. In times of a lockdown this dependency, particularly with lack of access to caregivers, makes them vulnerable, and in many cases, completely incapacitated. “The aged need help to get around, to buy groceries, to resources and services, based on their mobility level, age related health conditions or debilitating co-morbidity. This is true for persons with disabilities, particularly those with mobility related disabilities, as well”...

Samarthyam (www.samarthyam.com) is an Organization of People with Disabilities (OPDs) founded in 1991. We have a Special Consultative Status with United Nations ECOSOC, since 2015. The pioneering efforts of Samarthyam are recognized by UN agencies and Government of India, for example promoting rights based advocacy, inclusive, accessible and sustainable environment with focus on independent, safe mobility and gender equality (girls and women with disabilities). Samarthyam team  is working with proactive approach to reach out to grassroots OPDs with the help of  central and state governments  and  UN agencies . As India continue to battle the pandemic, we are amplifying our outreach to people with disabilities to reassure that their survival is a priority by promoting connectivity in rural and remote areas, assuring information in accessible formats and preventing discrimination. The Covid-19 crisis is new.   It is requiring us all to act, inte...

I was in complete shock when India  21 days  lock down  was announced on 23 March 2020  due to Covid-19 . I had no cue how I will get access to my caregiver who helps us (my sibling and mom) at home for activities of daily living. I started talking to local police and higher officers in the government. I was denied the curfew pass as I was 'disabled' and was asked to call 'relatives' to seek help during the lock down. I was stunned with this kind of behavior but could understand the gravity of the situation- they did not had any instructions/orders on 'disability inclusive response and consideration' during lock down.  Challenge My priority was to get a curfew-pass for my caregiver and then move on to find solutions to this distress as there are senior citizens and people with disabilities (more than 20 million) and many have high support needs.  I got a curfew pass with immense difficulty from local police station that too when the police...

Announcement: India to be completely lock down for 21 days starting from 25 March 2020, I was stunned. This means no one is allowed to come out of home like it happens in curfew situation.  We are two with muscular dystrophy (high support need) and parent is super senior citizen, and we can only manage with human assistance. Today we sent our attendant to get a “curfew pass” (issued only by local police) so that he can come to our house to assist us. He was denied the pass on account of caretaking of “disabled”. Even I had to speak to the police person to convince that in our disability condition with all three of us affected in the family, there is no other way but to get our trained assistant at least in the day time. The officer denied the pass and said “you can call your relatives to help you and we we cannot do anything”.  I got the curfew pass after 5 hrs of wait and lot of helped taken from higher government authorities. This is extremely imp for all of...