Countries Response for People With Disabilities During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Background and ObjectivesDuring the Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic, isolation and prevention measures to reduce COVID-19 contagions are essential for the care of all people; these measures should comply with the principles of inclusion and accessibility for people with disabilities (PWD), with all kinds of deficiencies and levels of dependency. Thereby, the aim of this article is to present the measures adopted for PWD or people with rehabilitation needs, for containment, mitigation, or suppression of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in different countries of all continents and of all income levels.MethodsA narrative approach was used in this article. First, a broad search was carried out in the 193 member states of the UN, and then 98 countries that issued any document, report, or information related to disability and COVID-19 were selected. Finally, 32 countries were included in this article because they presented official information. We considered official sources, the information available in the government, or on the health ministry page of the country. In this way, the countries that presented information which did not correspond to an official source were excluded. The search was conducted in August 2020 and updated in March 2021.ResultsFirst, the non-pharmacological general interventions for PWD included informative measures and general recommendations during the stay at home, isolation, and biosecurity measures, contagion prevention, detection of positive cases, mobilization measures, and measures implemented in institutions or residences of PWD. Second, we identified the economic and social benefits provided to PWD during the pandemic. Finally, we identified the measures taken by countries according to the type of impairment (visual, hearing, physical, mental, and cardiopulmonary impairment) during the COVID-19 pandemic.ConclusionIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, only 50% of countries from the five world regions created and implemented specific measures for PWD to containment, mitigation, or suppression of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. There is very little specific information available about the measures to continue with the care of people with rehabilitation needs and the long-term follow-up of PWD, and for the prevention and response to violence, especially for women with disabilities.

Evaluation of the Impact of the First Wave of COVID-19 and Associated Lockdown Restrictions on Persons with Disabilities in 14 States of India

“…Rehabilitation services in India are already scarce, being mostly located at urban-centric tertiary level facilities. This makes it particularly challenging for rural dwelling PwD with respect to accessibility, availability, and utilization of rehabilitation services [ 19 ]. Although telerehabilitation and teleconsultations emerged as a response to support PwD, the evidence for safe, effective and good quality service was lacking [ 20 ].…”

Compliance with web content accessibility guidelines in ophthalmology social media posts

“…As an exploratory study, the present study evaluated online educational posts from ten ophthalmology and ten non-ophthalmology (cardiopulmonary) social media pages. Cardiopulmonary sites were chosen as the control group because researchers agreed that the intended audience of cardiopulmonary social media pages would not be enriched with visually impaired individuals 13 . The first ten public, English-language pages that appeared after searches for ophthalmology awareness pages and the first ten public, English-language cardiopulmonary pages were chosen after searches for the cardiopulmonary terms (Table 1 ).…”

Evolution of rehabilitation services in response to a global pandemic: reflection on opportunities and challenges ahead

“…In addition to barriers to healthcare and rehabilitation services ( 6 – 8 ), the implementation of social distancing measures through various phases of the pandemic imposed multiple barriers and challenges for already vulnerable populations, including the elderly, women, economically disadvantaged, racial and ethnic minorities, uninsured, homeless, and the disability communities ( 9 ). Individual vulnerability combined with the lack of timely access to healthcare may have led to and exacerbated the disproportionate health risks experienced by people with disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic ( 10 ).…”