Response to COVID-19

International News

COVID-19, access and assistive technology: The need for preparedness (2022, Global Social Policy)

The inclusion of disability and ageing in COVID-19 hygiene behavior change interventions across low-and middle-income countries: A review using the COVID-19 Inclusive WASH Checklist. “Most organizations identified people with disabilities, older adults and caregivers as target groups, but targeted activities to include them were scarce. Where efforts were made, immediate needs rather than rights were addressed.” (2022, Frontiers Public Health)

For Canadians with disabilities, multiple types of support were important during COVID-19. (2022, the Conversation)

Rising to the challenge: disability organisations in the COVID-19 pandemic (2022, Disability and Society)

After 2 Years of Covid, We’re Still Failing Older People. Part of a series marking the two year anniversary of the Covid-19 pandemic:

"Two years after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, governments around the world are still failing to protect the rights of older people. From ageist comments by public figures to persistent staffing shortages and use of chemical restraints in care homes, the protection of older people’s rights has been put under the spotlight like never before -- and comes up lacking." (2022, Human Rights Watch)

Key Concepts: Human Rights and the Economy a series on human rights on the economic recovery from the COVID crisis. (Not about disability - but maybe useful context, 2022, CESR)

The Global Platform Reader on COVID-19 and older people in low and middle-income countries (link to pdf, 2022, Corona Older)

An evidence brief on How can health and social care services promote the safety and well-being of people with intellectual disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic in LMICs? (2021, Disability Evidence)

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Middle East and North Africa

Disability inclusion in health responses to COVID-19 in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: results of a rapid assessment (2022, WHO EMRO)

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Africa

Challenges and Opportunities for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in the COVID-19 Response “A limited number of recommended MHPSS activities during the COVID-19 pandemic were planned in countries across Africa, with an even smaller proportion being actually implemented. The implementation level of MHPSS activities was below 50% in most countries. [...] It is critical to build on this to integrate mental health into emergency preparedness and response and strengthen mental health systems in the long term in the post-pandemic world.” (2022, Environmental Research and Public Health)

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Ethiopia

COVID-19 and social policy in contexts of existing inequality: experiences of youth with disabilities. “The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the marginalisation of adolescents and young people with disabilities [...] as health, education and social protection systems have been slow to mobilise targeted support and address social exclusion.” (2022, Disability and Society)

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Nigeria

Creating a more inclusive and more accessible society for a sustainable disability community in a post-COVID-19 world (2022, Pulse NG)

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South Africa

Experiences of Organisations of (or That Serve) Persons with Disabilities during the COVID-19 Pandemic and National Lockdown. “The South African government failed to ensure targeted support to organisations of persons with disabilities. A remarkable feature of the organisations we interviewed for this small study was their agility in responding creatively to the challenges they faced.” (2022, Environmental Research and Public Health)

Disabled people moved because of Covid are living in filthy conditions (2022, Ground Up)

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Uganda

The response to Covid-19 in Northern Uganda should be disability-inclusive. A report on a research project between June 21 to August 22. (2022, University of Bristol)

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Bangladesh

Directives to hold special Covid-19 vaccination drive for people with disability (2022, The Business Standard)

Jobseekers with disabilities left out of Covid recovery plans (2021, Dhaka Tribune)

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China

Shanghai Covid lockdown: The struggle of blind massage therapists (2022, BBC)

310,000 seniors living alone in Shanghai and young people who help them (in Chinese, 2022, QQ)

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Jordan

COVID-19 and social policy in contexts of existing inequality: experiences of youth with disabilities. “The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the marginalisation of adolescents and young people with disabilities [...] as health, education and social protection systems have been slow to mobilise targeted support and address social exclusion.” (2022, Disability and Society)

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Philippines

Supporting OPDs Covid-19 response: reflections from the Philippines (2021, CBM Australia)

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Germany

German Court Orders Protection of People with Disabilities in Triage Decisions

'The court found the legislature had failed “to take measures to ensure that no one is at risk of being disadvantaged on the basis of disability in the allocation of life-sustaining treatment if shortages in intensive care resources arise.” The court ordered lawmakers to introduce stronger measures based on the constitutional right to nondiscrimination. They should consider disability rights training for medical staff and the creation of stronger procedures to identify disabilities.'

See also the statement from the court or coverage on the guardian (2022, Human Rights Watch)

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Sweden

Evaluation of science advice during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden “Many elderly people were administered morphine instead of oxygen despite available supplies, effectively ending their lives.” (2022, Humanities and Social Sciences Communications)

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United Kingdom

First COVID-19 Inquiry Report Revealed: "Failure to Take into Account Vulnerabilities and Inequalities in Pre-Pandemic Planning”. (Jul, Disability Rights UK)

Disabled people an ‘afterthought’ in pandemic response, Covid inquiry told. (2023, Open Democracy)

COVID Inquiry Hears About Government Disregard of Disabled People:

“Issues highlighted included the greater susceptibility of Disabled people with long term health conditions to respiratory disease; the greater likelihood of transmission in Care Homes and other residential settings; the increased risks by virtue of receiving care and support; the discriminatory barriers to receiving services and the cyclical nature of poverty and disability.” (2023, Disability Rights UK)

‘They gave her a bed to die in’: family of woman with Down’s Syndrome denied intensive care seek answers from Covid-19 inquiry. (2022, the Guardian)

Disabled people are being left out of COVID recovery. “Here are five ways to change that” (2022, the Conversation)

‘Completely Inhumane’: Government’s Relaxed Approach to COVID Represents a Regression for Disabled People’s Rights (2022, Byline Times)

Booster jabs are vital – why is it so difficult for clinically vulnerable people to access them? (2021, the Guardian)

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Canada

Quebecers with disabilities struggle with rapid tests, say advocates after the province ran out of PCR tests for the general public. (2022, CBC)

Accessibility of Canadian COVID-19 Testing Locations for People with Disabilities During the Third Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: "more than a year into the pandemic, there existed a clear lack of accessibility information for Canadian testing locations for people with disabilities." (2021, MedRxiv)

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United States

What to Do if You Have COVID A guide for preparing for illness, preventing spread to others, managing symptoms, and recovery (2023, People's CDC)

The Pandemic’s Legacy Is Already Clear: All of this will happen again. “America has little chance of effectively countering the inevitable pandemics of the future; it cannot even focus on the one that’s ongoing.”

“The new coronavirus exploited the country’s many failing systems: its overstuffed prisons and understaffed nursing homes; its chronically underfunded public-health system; its reliance on convoluted supply chains and a just-in-time economy; its for-profit health-care system, whose workers were already burned out; its decades-long project of unweaving social safety nets; and its legacy of racism and segregation that had already left Black and Indigenous communities and other communities of color disproportionately burdened with health problems.” (2022, The Atlantic)

Biden declaring the pandemic over disregards the danger disabled Americans face and “has shown how easily it is willing to view people with disabilities as pesky asterisks.” (2022, MSNBC)

People with Disabilities and COVID-19 Economic Impact Payments “Persons with disabilities were significantly more likely to spend their checks on basic needs, like food and rent, and less likely to spend on second-order items like charity or savings. These results suggest that future stimulus efforts should consider an increased amount for persons with disabilities.” (2022, Journal of Poverty)

Disabled Americans Push to Improve on COVID-Era Policies (2022, Time)

Blind people need more accessible at-home coronavirus tests (2022, GBH)

The White House releases a plan to help people who are especially vulnerable to Covid-19. (2022, NYT)

Biden and CDC's Covid-19 variant guidelines "have disabled people feeling left for dead" (2022, MSNBC)

High-Risk Pandemic Stories: A Syllabus. "We are not alone" (2022, Disability Visibility Project)

Disabled Deaths Are Not Your “Encouraging News” '“Comorbidities” is a weaselly, cruel, violent word.' (2022, Disability Visibility Project)

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commissions details when COVID-19 can be a disability including if you get fired because of having symptoms of COVID-19 (2021, The Hill)

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Australia

How COVID-19 public communications is letting down our most vulnerable. (2023)

Predictors of vaccine hesitancy among disability support workers in Australia. A survey showed that 50% of disability support workers were vaccine hesitant. (2022, Disability and Health)

Living with COVID-19 in the time of OMICRON: Escalating risks for people with disability in Australia and recommendations how to address them. (2022, Centre of Research Excellence in Disability and Health)

Australian vaccine contractor prioritises aged care "NDIS participant vaccine rates remain lower than general population" (2022, the Guardian)

As COVID-19 cases rise, disability advocates say CDC isn't doing enough (2022)

People with disability 'completely overlooked' as Omicron surges (2021)

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New Zealand

The daily, grinding tragedy of Covid-19 “By unilaterally disarming in the fight against the coronavirus, the Government is exposing New Zealanders to the very serious ongoing health burden of Covid-19.” (2022, Newsroom)

Mixed response from disability advocates over Covid welfare support funding. (2022, Stuff)

Reporting on an inquiry into how government response to the Omicron wave impacted disabled people: they "do not appear to have been given prominence in government policy and decision making," (2022, RNZ)

'Oh well, we'll all get it' attitude to Omicron ignores increased risk to people with disabilities (2022, Stuff)

Ministry of Health 'so far removed from the day-to-day lives of disabled people' (2022, RNZ)

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