Perhaps no other time since the Y2K prediction, has the world been in a unified stampede. Not even globalization, climate change, or Facebook have brought the world to a stall like COVID-19. Now the entire world is seemingly in universal agreement that “soicial distancing” is the correct response to “flatten the COVID-19 curve.” But what if social distanintertwinedce is a costly “luxury” that individuals with special needs cannot afford?
The uncertainty of how long COVID-19 is upon us is overwhelming; life like we have not witnessed in our lifetime. Even as someone who grew up under civil war, this global quagmire is of a magnitude new to my reality! Call it a memory lapse. Perhaps because I was only a child during the civil war? Or that my world was not as big as it is today? I do not recall witnessing such heightened global drama, causing a somber mood to the entire world. Except, the death of Princess Diana (of Wales), which shook my childhood world into sobriety and mourning.
With COVID-19, the world is connected in suffering by a global malady. Uncertain, and overwhelmed about the long-term effect this pandemic poses to our social relations, daily living, and economic well being. Many countries have adopted confining, but necessary measures to “flatten the curve.” A total lockdown like some countries, stay-at-home, or work-from-home in others. Political leaders are using the power entrusted to them to ensure that citizens are taking seriously prescribed measures to reverse the spread of COVID-19.
Amidst the slowdown of life, the public is active and creative, through campaigns and mass appeal to individual responsibilities to “do the right thing.” Some celebrities who tested positive are voluntarily lending their voice to spread awareness about living with COVID-19. Social media is abuzz with posts appeals to public decency, pleas from medical professionals to “please stay home,” as well as praises for medical professionals for putting themselves on the frontline to save lives. Random entertainment has taken social media platforms by surprise, with free online dance parties, yoga and exercise classes, comics and fundraisers for our medical professionals and states and city “CoVID_19 response efforts.” Late night talk shows are finding creative ways of continuing to broadcast from home, allowing us bouts of laughter with an “empty audience.” Moreover, talk show hosts have become our “go-to” trusted sources of up-to-date developments in the pandemic, the influencers on morally-acceptable public health, and crusaders of fundraising campaigns to feed the hungry, buy pizza for our health workers, support the mayor’s fund or simply “social distance.”
Overall, it seems universally agreeable that “social distancing” is the right response under current circumstances. Especially here in the United States, where the disease spread has surpassed expectations, projections, and available resources. Anyone perceived as going against the norm is a candidate for “name-and-shame,” from politicians, the public, family or friends. Remember the college students on spring break in Florida, called out for denouncing social distancing calls? Turns out, about 44 of them contracted COVID-19! In Italy, mayors of some cities are literally cursing out their residents violating quarantine directives. In Uganda and India, security agencies responded with extremely harmful measures, unleashing their batoons on anybody seen as roaming the streets after the quarantine directives were issued!
To suggest that social distancing is a luxury not everybody can afford may seem blasphemous or suicidal at this time. Yet, some within our society are experiencing the brunt of uniform sanctions to social interaction and social services. I am particularly referring to individuals with special needs, whose livelihoods depend on continued access to socialized care and professional services. True, individuals with special needs have varied concerns and needs. Some may do better by themselves, while others may experience social distancing-induced life threatening conditions. The impact also has a global differentiation
During a BBC World News segment about three weeks ago, an interviewee from India, with an elderly mother and a sister with a disability explained how COVID-19 social distancing has put his family’s health in jeopardy. On March 25, President Modi issued a 21-day nationwide lockdown, giving people less than four hours to prepare. He promised to keep essential services functional, many Indians were caught in a stampede trying to get home, shop for essential needs or keep their businesses afloat. Pictures of police flogging those caught breaking the directive have circulated online, particularly the poor and migrant workers stuck in the city without the ability to continue earning a living.
There is not much attention to individuals with special needs, like the gentleman who was featured on BBC World News. He is now taking care of his elderly mother and sister with multiple sclerosis. He said when President Modi announced the nationwide lockdown, he appealed to employers not to take away jobs. Now, even those who might be considered essential service providers, like caregivers to individuals with disabilities have chosen not to show up to work, because “they are “social distancing.” This has put pressure on family members to take care of their loved ones, even without the specialized expertise that professional caregivers possess. Although his sister has asked him not to worry, he feels obligated, out of his love for her.
I thought about individuals with disabilities in Uganda, where the social welfare system is not well developed to provide for their special needs. Many Persons with Disabilities or PWDs, as we refer to them in Uganda typically work within the informal sector, a larger part of Uganda’s workforce with bare minimal earnings or socio-economic protection. Many earn their living on the streets, either as beggars or street vendors. With the country on a 14-day lockdown, except for essential services, the plight of PWDs is likely to intensify. Hence the need to be mindful of our diverse needs and challenges, when we are prescribing public policy or calling out those who are seemingly not ascribing to expectations.
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