Impact of corona and lock down on persons with disabilities 2 Dhanasekar A

I Don't remember of this outbreak initially, today a pandemic COVID 19. As a person with disability with my capabilities I don't see it a major concern. 

What really is the concern here? With the imposition of Section 144 pan India my worry is how would Parsons with Disabilities get their essential services on a daily basis. Here I am talking  about persons with disabilities who have high restrictions in participation. How does a person get the services of an escort for buying essentials? Will he be allowed to go out? A million dollar question. 

As we have always been reiterating there a need for including the issues of persons with disabilities during planning and implementation of disater management. 

The positive factor here I see is spending of quality time with family members and without shadow of doubt safety of one and all.

Dhanasekar A

Disability Rights Activist 

impact corona and lock down on persons with disabilities 1 Dheepakh PS

When the Central Government announced a lockdown, for 21 days from last night (24.3.20- from midnight), it was 8 pm, so how do we go to the ATM, where the machines are not accessible and withdraw money in just under 4 hours? Even if it is one of the services which is open, without security guards around, it is not safe for us. An accessible and mobile ATM would solve this issue. 

What about care givers for people with severe disabilities? How do they find a way out? These are questions which have to be looked into,  before taking such decisions. 

The effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic which has thrown all our work routines  into a dizzy, suspended sporting events across the globe, has taught me an important lesson. Never to procrastinate things and leave it until they are too late. 

As a Person with Disability,  who commutes a lot, this curfew is indeed a difficult thing to follow, but have to do it for the benefit of all of us. 

My biggest concern is about essentials, albeit I have stocked enough for the time being, there's a sense of what-if popping up every now and then. 

Mobility as a person with disability is certainly taken a beating and though am fortunate to have shops nearby but am thinking of those for whom there are environmental barriers and attitudinal barriers imposed by the society when trying to access those. 

While people are running helter skelter to stock up, there is every possibility that the Person with disability might be left out in the crowd?

Am not questioning the government s decision to lockdown but asking them to keep PwDs in mind too, when they come across such circumstances.

Dheepakh PS 

Person with Disability 

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Journalist working with a prominent Daily