“Autistic children find it difficult to stay indoors for long periods of time. The Government should make it possible for them to move with permission”
“Information in general is never accessible to people living in institutions.”
„Punitive measures were imposed on people who do not understand the exit restrictions and who cannot comply with them due to their impairment.“
“There are no preventive measures. All financial support from the government goes everywhere, except to any areas related to disabled people.”
“Children or people with disabilities in general are not mentioned in the daily press conferences. There is no separate support. On the contrary, it looks like we don't exist”
“I fear an even greater exclusion of people with disabilities and chronic illnesses on the pretext of avoiding protection. I fear a further reduction of the help and support with the pretext of protection against infection.”
More unemployment, more segregation through (partially) assisted living: greater psychological stress there, more inequality in the area of education, less information.”
“It is not possible for my son to wear a mask or something similar. As a result, he experiences more exclusion and discrimination than before, as there are no exceptions.”
“From what I know, children in institutions are strictly confined, can no longer have contact with their families. They are really imprisoned while the providers bring the virus. Very important mental consequences.”
“I have never been so discriminated against and have never been so less autonomous. This discrimination can be seen in different ways: for the moment according to the ethical charters of hospitals, people with disabilities are not a priority to be taken care of in intensive care / shopping alone has become impossible since the workers can no longer help us for example to put the goods in our bags, we are obliged to ask for help for this basic activity.”
“In Belgium, for the moment, there is even less question of inclusion than before, now we can really talk about exclusion!”
“Access even without this virus is severely restricted to children with disabilities living in closed large or small institutions.”
"Services are interrupted but no one is thinking about the effects this has on the person living with the disability or on their family and friends. The priority is placed on the convenience of the system."
“The cessation of various physical therapies required will result in greatly increased pain and loss of function.”
“[In institutions for older persons with disabilities] there is not enough PPE, people are not properly isolated and staff is getting sick.”
“There are still care workers working in multiple sites which put people living in institutions at risk.”
"People with disabilities will die both in hospital of at home because they either cannot access services or because the hospital staff are stretched thin and don't have time to meet their care needs, or because the system doesn't see the value in their life and prioritize the care of others above their own."
"The government of Nova Scotia refuses to consider that there is any issue with care in the community and ignores any examples to the contrary. We have people in our community dying of neglect but the province will not accept the fact that thier deaths are related to covid b/c their care was terminated due to covid-19."
"In one long term care home close to me the gov. called in help from the larger health community after more than 100 tenants and 50 staff became ill. When staff from the hospital arrived and spoke to their union about the deplorable conditions the Dr in charge accused the union of fear mongering. This was more than a month after we expressed the same concerns about hone care through this facility and were bullied and attacked for asking for help."
"Even if someone were to complain their identity would not be protected and they would face consequences for their complaint. I, personally would not feel safe complaining during the pandemic for fear of having all my services cancelled and having to survive on my own."
"Information provided is all from an able bodied perspective and ignores the disability experience."
"I hear of many seniors and people living with developmental disabilities who still seem confused and the staff do not have the time to explain the situation so they simply remain confused."
"Many persons with disabilities thrive on routine, being out in the public, meeting with family and friends. Many people with disabilities are unable to understand what is currently occurring with Covid 19 and struggling to manage day to day. I personally have a fourteen year old daughter who has an intellectual disability and she is dealing with behavioural outbursts that we have not witnessed before. We hVe reaches out to our local children hospital over a week ago for solutions without response."
“Lack of access to medical care.”
"From our organization we have carried out a survey, in which we show that a high percentage of families have anguish, stress and a difficult economic situation, with no response to the date of the State."
"There is no mechanism for prioritizing people fatally dependent on respiratory support (muscular dystrophy)."
"The City of Brno has set aside 2 places, intended for the possibility of quarantining people living on the street, staying in dormitories and other temporary shelters. However, the aspect of disability has not been assessed."
“Access to care has been cancelled for the chronically ill and persons with psychosocial disability. Follow-ups are no longer taking place. The government calls for a mutual help between neighbours and relatives, and persons with disabilities have no organised assistance or food delivery to their homes. Personal assistance was not organised, nor the protection provided for employees.”
“The government closed the access of the nursing homes and many other institutions to the families, as well as reduced the staff. Result: the residents were left to die!”
“I have the impression that this crisis is only adding to the problems already present with regard to support for people with disabilities. These problems did not happen with the Covid19, they were the result of a lack of measures and support even during regular periods.”
„The flood of news overwhelms our people as much as the uncertainty of how it will continue. They suffer from lack of contacts and lack of other place to live. Hygiene and distance measures are sometimes incomprehensible to them and therefore not always feasible. Isolation / quarantine would plunge some into mental illness.“
“Neither mouth protection nor disinfectants were distributed, nor is there any information specifically for the disabled - the test options were not increased for disabled people and relatives / assistants either”
“Additional psychological stress due to insufficient information provided by the government (information is solely in the hands of the service provider), as well as from the blocking of contacts and a ban on resumption after leaving the facility.”
“There is practically no protective equipment [in institutions].”
“The measures may help to prevent a disease from covid-19. But the psychosocial impact on people with disabilities cannot be estimated.”
[Regarding access to independent complaints mechanisms and to lawyers] people themselves cannot act. Only by legal guardians.”
"People with disabilities lose their small income. Nobody cares about us because we only incur costs anyway. Many are getting sicker. Many will die. An enormous saving for the government. In this way, groups can be better supported."
"My son was given understandable, illustrated information by his workshop management. We were also called by his group management during the closing time, so that contact remained at least in this way."
"I am afraid that the Covid 19 virus in my son's body could have a different effect than in the "normal population. I also do not assume that all employees of the workshop for the disabled in which my son works are able to take suitable protective measures Therefore I am afraid that there are better ways of spreading the virus there. At the same time, however, I will soon have to resume my work (while my son is also working). It is also the case that he misses his colleagues an option to reduce the group strengths."
"'Hermetically sealed' psychiatric institutions (long term residential, psych.hospitals, private psych.clinics, psych.clinics in General Hospitals), with more absolute restrictions than before, with no possibility of visits, with no advocacy services and with no independent monitoring (the fact that we have an independent monitoring mechanism does not mean that monitoring is done either regularly or in each of those institutions), will definitely result in more violations of human rights."
"It's difficult to say. Banned visits do not allow us to know what happens behind closed doors."
“I live with autism, I am a social worker. I did not get adequate protective equipment for my job…”
"Benefits have fallen. Existing ones have been suspended due to the virus. No new ones were introduced."
"I am a disabled person living alone. I have to take care of myself, I do this with the help of stores that allow ordering. I do not receive any financial or other support. They contacted me on the phone, they could help me get food and / or medicine once a week if I wanted to. In addition, no assistance was provided by the government or any other institution. I live in a condominium, I would use the stair railings for transportation, but I don’t dare because I don’t know if anyone would disinfect them."
"I am not aware of any measure taken specifically for the benefit of children with disabilities in the institution."
"I can't work, I'm losing my job! I work at Tesco and there is a high risk of infection for those who use biological therapy! There is no protocol for this or anything else!"
“No provision of special care giver if a person with Intellectual Disabilities gets quarantined families.”
“People detained against their will in psychiatric institutions have no choice as to whether they are admitted and how long they have to stay. They are not given any information on risk of Covid-19 in unit or other information, and forced to stay against their will. No community supports are being provided for people when they are discharged from units, or alternative measures to treat people are not in place.”
“Most of our deaths are from a nursing home setting.”
“I had to BEG family doctor to come and see my son. When he came after 2 months, he told me to find a new doctor”
“Abandoned, my daughter didn’t receive therapies for 2 months and her condition is worsening”
“Many people didn’t even have the explanation why they couldn’t see their families anymore. Many older people thought they were abandoned and left alone to die”
“There is a danger of being denied medical treatment due to disability; fear of increased poverty, isolation, discrimination and violence.”
“Fear that they will let us die.”
“I am afraid that my mum will die of exhaustion and then I will die without her assistance”
“Fear of not knowing how to keep the social distance”
“They did not take into consideration the psychological side: you have to live with the disease, the disability and you cannot even have the moral and physical support of your partner. They abandoned us.”
“Families need support ... Materials ... Assistance ... We were left alone .. I have two disabled daughters. And fatigue has taken over .... We know nothing ... And we have no assistance.”
“Locked down without any assistance of financial help.”
"No measures. We and our children have remained practically invisible…"
“Total neglect of persons with disabilities”
"Street children are not taken into account."
“The manner in which police officers handle person's with intellectual disabilities who are found to have contravenes curfew directives - Police officers have been very brutal.”
“Even before persons with disabilities had a big issue with health service provision”
“The case of isolation in homes is having a very bad effect on their emotional condition, stress, depression and many other psychological disorders are appearing.”
"The government's focus is in urban areas. People in rural and remote areas in the highlands of Lesotho have been generally neglected. There are soldiers and police to force them to stay in their homes. This applies to persons with disabilities."
“I am concerned about people in institutions, many of them are probably abandoned, due to the lack of interest in their health and well-being, regardless of the pandemic. These people do not interest the population, nor the institutions.”
“The call made by the Mexican health authorities is “Stay at home.” But there are no actions or information for people with disabilities [living] in the street or in shelters.”
“Families are practically facing this contingency alone.”
“I'm concerned about triage.”
“In my country, although the government is doing a good job of protecting public health, there are no specific programs and supporting operations for all people with disabilities.”
“People with disabilities are fragile in dealing with COVID19, the technical aids they use are not always sterile.”
“We have been forgotten about.”
„I am concerned that persons with disabilities are not given consideration to move during this lockdown. For example, children with neurological conditions who are on anti seizure medications cannot access their drugs. Many have missed their doses. Children using catheters to manage their bladder incontinence thus making them prone to infections and other complications.“
“A mother of a child with Cerebral Palsy was harassed by policemen on her way to collect food relief at one of the distribution centres”
"Yes send them [homeless people] to mental health shelters and hospitals but still only 50 percent."
“The public health care system in South Africa is horrendous. Accessible transport is almost non-existing especially from rural areas to hospitals and clinics. A shortage of medication is the norm”
“There has been no mention of people with disabilities living in residential facilities at all.”
“When it comes to choosing a ventilator for who will live and who will not live, persons with disabilities will not be put on a ventilator.”
“Concern about not being able to request medical attention, concern that there is no accessibility for deaf people in various places.”
“Persons with disabilities will suffer the most because most of their support interventions has been stopped.”
“Persons with mental health challenges in institutions have not got enough info about COVID-19 especially social distancing.”
“It was televised when a person with mental disability was arrested by security during curfew hours in Wakiso district and was tortured only to be rescued by the mother the following days.”
“We have also had cases where persons with psychosocial disabilities are beaten for breaking curfew time and quarantine.”
"A part from the general public measures, I do not see any disability specific measures in my community."
"The government ordered all persons leaving in social care institutions to go back to their families. However, many of the persons with disabilities had no close relative so they had to stay in these institutions."
"There is a possibility that after covid 19 some pwds might lose employment as it is projected that some employers may consider laying off some of their employees. Most pwds may be affected by hunger as they may not be able to access food supplies leave alone that poverty that has struck them may hasten."
“People with mental illnesses are being forgotten among the COVID-19 pandemic, struggling with self-isolation and declining mental health. I am concerned that this may lead to an increase in suicide attempts and completed suicides.”
“Government asked them to stay at home all during the quarantine period, but there is no official plan about who will help them to satisfy their needs for food, medical treatment etc.”
"This is a problem. Social workers are dropping cases where families have social work support for children with disabilities in order to respond to cases of domestic violence. There seems to be a policy of helping only those that have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis and not those who needed supports BEFORE the pandemic. i know a family that had the Early Help intervention to help 2 children with disabilities and they were dropped by the social worker due to COVID-19 crises. This will create a crisis within this family. There seems to be a lack of understanding that basic services prevent problems from arising and this one could be done remotely, so there is no need to drop them."
"There is no help for adapting to distance learning education, particularly for children with mental health, ADD, autism, etc, where the challenges are often behavioural rather than access to info. Parents are abandoned and need help."
"No, even relating to their disability. I have C-PTSD and have not had access to mental health services even before the crisis. I saw that the government is putting in measures to help health workers who are getting PTSD from the crisis, which is great for them, but really excludes the rest of us with the condition. My condition has worsened in this crisis, but there is still no help."
"Mostly mental health concerns. I worry about children with disabilities who will be left behind. I worry about the long term economic impact on persons with disabilities. I also worry that this crisis is not going to be over in a few months. If it continues to drag out (and I think it will), the impacts will get worse and more complex."
"My main concern is the loss of rights that we have had; We only talk about the help or assistance we could have, but we never talk about the rights we have, such as the right to be informed in the same way, respect the right to make our own decisions, the right to participate in the elaboration of Measures to take. This crisis has allowed the authoritarianisms that justify or cover them up because the crisis requires taking this or that measure. They do not take into account the opinion of people with disabilities and their organizations."
“Typical services used by PWDs [persons with disabilities] to maintain independence are now being used by others. Grocery delivery usually available that day, now not available for 5-6 days. I cannot go to the store in my power wheelchair without typically available transportation. I am forced to eat canned and processed food, which is high in salt, and dangerous for my health.”
“I myself have not received help in any way/shape or form. I’ve reached out several times to the community of Lafayette, La for assistance even though I am legally disabled and receive disability benefits”
“I see residential support staff not wearing masks in homes of people with disabilities that they support. Apparently, no requirements or they are not being followed.”
"No personal protective equipment for homecare workers,little controls or protocols at retirement or group homes."