vc_edit_form_fields_attributes_vc_ Expert Sources: People with disabilities often forgotten during crisis – Red Cross Red Crescent
VIDEO STORY | COVID-19

Expert Sources: People with disabilities often forgotten during crisis

Are people with disabilities being left behind during the COVID-19 pandemic?

July 2020

Reporting:
Malcolm Lucard

Videography:
Thibault Lauritzen

Health emergencies don’t hit everyone the same way. The COVID-19 pandemic, for example, is forcing people to distance themselves physically and to stay at home as much as possible. But those with physical disabilities can become particularly isolated and vulnerable. Helpers or support systems might no longer be available.

During the COVID-19 crisis, Dalal al Taji passes the time walking on the roof of her building. Going out on the street is risky, she says, for people who rely on the sense of touch to find their way around.

Protecting oneself from infection is more difficult and many people with disabilities face a higher risk due to pre-existing conditons. To make matters worse, critical health and prevention messages are not always shared in a way that people with visual, hearing or physical disabilities can receive them. “During emergencies, people with disabilities often get forgotten,” says Dalal al Taji, a professor and advocate for people with disabilities who lives and teaches in the Gaza Strip. In this episode of Expert Sources, al Taji explains the challenges faced by people who have disabilities and who live in conflict zones or other places impacted by crisis.

To ensure that people with disabilities get important messages about COVID-19, the Palestinian Red Crescent includes sign language interpreters in its videos about the pandemic.
To work, stay in touch and keep up on important news, people go online. The problem, she says, is that in many conflict zones, people with disabilities often don’t have reliable access to the internet, which faces even more pressure now due to the pandemic.

Recommended

Related

What happens when machines can decide who to kill?

It’s the stuff of science fiction: machines that make decisions about who and when to kill. Referred to as “autonomous weapons”, they’re already in use to some degree. But as more sophisticated systems are being developed we wanted to an expert in the field about whether such systems comply with international humanitarian law and what it means for humanity to give machines the power over human life and death.

‘Wildfire diaries’ and radical change in communications

In this episode, we talk with humanitarian communicator Kathy Mueller who produced our first magazine podcast series, The Wildfire Diaries, about massive wildfires in Northern Canada in 2017. We talk about that series, her many international missions, and the big changes in humanitarian communications since she began with the Canadian Red Cross almost 20 years ago.

The power of storytelling

In this episode, we talk about the power of storytelling to inform and inspire. “Storytelling is a fundamental aspect of human communication,” says our guest Prodip, a volunteer and multi-media storyteller for the Bangladesh Red Crescent. “It inspires us to be a hero of our own community.” We also speak with one such community hero, Dalal al-Taji, a longtime volunteer and advocate for inclusion of people with disabilities in emergencies response. “In disasters. persons with disabilities sometimes get forgotten.”

This post is also available in:

Discover more stories

Get stories worth sharing delivered to your inbox

Want to stay up to date?

This might interest you...

Gardens of health

At health clinics and hospitals around Zimbabwe, new mothers and moms-to-be tend sustainable gardens to provide vital, nutritious meals despite a challenging climate

Check it out