COVID19: Lockdown how it is affecting people with disabilities

I am a wheelchair-user  in perpetual pursuit of a barrier-free life . I have been advocating for accessibility on a global scale for over two decades now. And what has become apparent to me over the years is that when advocates like myself talk about accessibility, we are actually talking about something far more profound than what the word itself suggests and something far more transformative than how the word is used.   Accessibility should be a catalytic force for something more. What makes a space accessible is the empathy, connection, freedom and possibility it engenders for people of all abilities and identities to come together.   Accessibility is a slippery, deceptive word that belies its own emancipatory meaning.   To move beyond the ramp, the sign-language interpreter, the Braille pad, and reclaim accessibility to mean more than the bureaucratic administration of disabled bodies, we must move beyond the logic of compliance. Audio and video support, Textbooks That

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”