Disability recommendations from various organisations for responding to COVID-19.

Content of the article.

COVID-19 has continued to spread around the world in recent months and, as a result, several organisations have issued recommendations on how to respond in accordance with the rights of persons with disabilities.

First is the “Joint Statement: Persons with Disabilities and COVID-19”[1] by the Chair of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, on behalf of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Disability and Accessibility. It was published by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on 6 April 2020 and stated the following:

• Article 11 of the CRPD (Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) provides that States must ensure the protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies.
• One of the goals established in the 2030 Agenda relates to responding to epidemics, especially through universal health coverage, strengthening mental health, and access to medicines and vaccines.
• When implementing the CRPD and the 2030 Agenda, States must take into account the diversity of persons with disabilities, with particular approaches based on age, gender and circumstances.
• States must guarantee the safety and integrity of persons with disabilities. Accordingly, persons with disabilities in institutions should be deinstitutionalised because they are at greater risk.
• The inclusion and effective participation of persons with disabilities in decision-making concerning the COVID-19 pandemic must be guaranteed. 
• Access for persons with disabilities to health services, including mental-health services, of the same quality, range and standard as those provided to others must be guaranteed. During the COVID-19 pandemic, health services required by persons with disabilities because of their disability must continue to be provided. Discrimination on the basis of disability in these services, including the provision of food or fluids, is prohibited.
• States must ensure that persons with disabilities, through prior consultation, are included in the planning, implementation and monitoring of measures to prevent COVID-19 infection and transmission.
• Food and drink supplies for persons with disabilities must be safeguarded during isolation and quarantine. Community-based support such as personal assistance and rehabilitation services must be guaranteed. In addition, all remote services and public information, including information about essential supplies and services, must be provided inclusively and accessibly across multiple platforms and on an equal basis.
• Finally, States are called upon to prioritise vulnerable populations in crisis management. States must also ensure that economic measures take account of persons with disabilities, who may face unemployment and additional barriers.

For more information, you can read the complete “Persons with Disabilities and COVID-19” Joint Statement published by OHCHR by clicking the following box: 

Full OHCHR Joint Statement on “Persons with Disabilities and COVID-19”.

Second, on 7 April the OAS (Organization of American States) published a “Practical Guide to Inclusive, Rights-Focused Responses to COVID-19 in the Americas”. The guide seeks to support OAS Member States in responding to the pandemic by providing tools for developing responses that take into account the particular circumstances of groups in vulnerable situations. Here we will focus on the recommendations[2] for persons with disabilities, which are:

Recommendations for information and communication policies: 

• All public-health information must be disseminated accessibly through the same media used throughout the country. Visual resources such as captions and sign language should be included, as well as pictograms and infographics to facilitate understanding for people with intellectual disabilities or neurodivergent people. Audio formats such as audio description, audio text and other alternatives should also be provided.
• Regarding the use of sign language, interpreters should be trained and recognised by the Deaf community nationally. The interpreter window should also be comparable in size and displayed alongside the main image. Because the Deaf community is heterogeneous, captions should also be provided.
• ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) should be made available through video chats and other options, such as apps for detecting infections, in order to safeguard the wellbeing of the most vulnerable groups; all of these tools should be provided in accessible formats.
• People who provide services to persons with disabilities, such as personal assistants or sign-language interpreters, should receive the same protection against COVID-19 as healthcare personnel.
• Some forms of assistance for people with multiple disabilities, such as tactile interpreters and similar support, should be subject to enhanced hygiene measures because of the greater level of physical contact.

Recommendations for mitigation and infection-control policies:

• During quarantines and curfews, support and caregiving needs must continue to be met. Access to open spaces should also be authorised for autistic and neurodivergent people and people with psychosocial disabilities when this helps them remain calm.
• Additional measures should be taken for persons with disabilities in specific situations, such as: 
  • • 1. Disinfecting entrance doors, handrails, railings and similar surfaces for wheelchair users.
      2. Persons with disabilities and older adults should be given priority when purchasing protective gloves, antibacterial soap and other hygiene products because they may rely more heavily on their hands for mobility and interaction with their environment.
      3. Prioritising at-home testing for persons with disabilities, older adults and the people who live with them.
      4. States should provide a Support Network that can be activated during States of Emergency for people with visual disabilities to facilitate shopping and other activities that must be carried out outside the home.

• Coordination and communication policies should be established with community support networks and with care centres for older persons and persons with disabilities during emergencies in order to provide support and advice on public-policy matters.
• Confinement measures can generate panic and anxiety, so psychological assistance must not cease. One alternative for increasing population safety is to provide this service remotely and cover it through social-protection policies.
• A gender perspective should be taken into account to safeguard women with disabilities, considering that they are more exposed to violence during quarantine.
• Treatment should shift from institutional inpatient care to community-based outpatient services. The use of medication or psychosocial treatments may not be forced under any circumstances on the basis of quarantine.
• Persons with disabilities may not be institutionalised or abandoned for any reason, especially without their free and informed consent.
• Personal assistants, interpreters and other support workers who continue providing services should undergo proactive COVID-19 testing in order to minimise transmission to persons with disabilities.
• Remote work and education services must be inclusive. 
• Restrictions should be understood to have a disproportionate impact on persons with disabilities. The examples of Australia, Argentina and the United States could be followed, where specific shopping hours were established for persons with disabilities.
• Any programme supporting people in vulnerable situations must include disability as an intersectional variable.

Recommendations for healthcare and support policies during the emergency: 

• Healthcare personnel should be trained to interact with persons with disabilities effectively, accessibly and affordably from a human-rights perspective, eliminating stigma and promoting equity.
• Persons with disabilities who require hospital care for COVID-19, ventilators or other support must receive care as soon as possible and must not be deprioritised because of their disability. Clear instructions must prioritise life and human dignity on an equal basis and without distinction on the basis of any disability.

Recommendations for planning and preparedness policies for future emergencies:

• Specific statistics should be produced for each group in a vulnerable situation, including persons with disabilities, so that these data can support better planning of the health response to a future emergency. One option is to create online surveys on platforms such as SurveyMonkey.
• Organisations of persons with disabilities and disability civil-society organisations should be consulted when measures are adopted before, during and after emergencies.

For more information, you can read the OAS “Practical Guide to Inclusive, Rights-Focused Responses to COVID-19 in the Americas” by clicking the following box: 

OAS Practical Guide to Inclusive, Rights-Focused Responses to COVID-19 in the Americas.

Finally, there is a statement from the Peruvian Ombudsman’s Office. At that time, Ombudsman Walter Gutiérrez stated in response to the coronavirus health emergency: “The Ombudsman’s Office, as a critical collaborator of the State and in its role as the Independent Mechanism responsible for promoting, protecting and monitoring compliance with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, presents the first in a series of special reports on persons with disabilities in the context of the COVID-19 emergency. This document covers the rights to accessibility, inclusive education and employment.”

A summary of the document[3] is presented below, and the full report is available for download at the end. The press release states that:

• There are more than 3 million persons with disabilities in the country who require a rapid and effective response.
• Regarding accessibility, the implementation of inclusive and accessible protocols for healthcare, police interventions and access to information is recommended for persons with disabilities.
• Regarding education, MINEDU and SUNEDU are advised to take into account the different types of disability and special educational needs, assessing the difficulties people face when accessing information. For that reason, all necessary forms of support were considered when the “Aprendo en casa” platform was launched. With respect to university education, a registry of students with disabilities and the type of associated need should be implemented so that accessibility and the necessary reasonable accommodations can be provided.
• With respect to employment, the report identifies the need to amend Supreme Decree Nº 010-2020-TR to include persons with disabilities, as well as people who provide support to a family member with a disability, among the groups prioritised for remote work. It likewise calls for Article 50 of the General Law on Persons with Disabilities to be amended so that people who support a family member with a disability can access the reasonable accommodations they require at work. Particular emphasis is placed on the need for oversight to ensure that the emergency is not used as a pretext to dismiss persons with disabilities.

For more information, you can read “Special Reports Series No. 04-2020-DP” published by the Ombudsman’s Office by clicking the following box: 

Special Reports Series No. 04-2020-DP

REFERENCES:

[1] All the information provided here has been summarised and paraphrased for easier understanding from the OHCHR “Joint Statement: Persons with Disabilities and COVID-19”.

[2] All the information provided here has been summarised and paraphrased for easier understanding from the “Practical Guide to Inclusive and Rights-Based Responses to COVID-19 in the Americas”.

[3] All the information provided here has been summarised and paraphrased for easier understanding from “Special Reports Series No. 04-2020-DP”.