Voices of People with Disabilities During the COVID19 Outbreak

On this page, you will find stories from people with various disabilities across the globe sharing their experiences with the COVID-19 outbreak and pandemic risk reduction strategies implemented by their governments. 

If you have any stories you wish to share, please email projects [at] wfdb.eu.

On this page:

1. IDA-written Stories

• Most recent stories
• Africa and Middle East
• America, Latin
• America, North and Canada
• Asia
• Europe
• Global

2. External Stories

3. Persons with Disabilities and Access to COVID-19 vaccination

1. IDA-written Stories

Most Recent Stories

• Pandemic Plus Economic Crisis Plus Massive Explosion: Voices from Lebanon
• Reopening does not happen equally for everyone: Read Stories of People with Bladder Condition (UK)
• 25 Milion Lives at Stake: Nigerians with Disabilities During the Pandemic
• COVID-19 in Spain: what are the main barriers faced by persons with disabilities? (Espanõl)
• Voices from Colombia: Two Women with Physical Disabilities share their COVID Experience (Espanõl)
• An Unlikely Path Out of the Coronavirus restrictions: story of a blind man from Bulgaria

Middle East

• Pandemic Plus Economic Crisis Plus Massive Explosion: Voices from Lebanon
• Barriers in accessing information during COVID-19: Stories from the Arab region (عربي هنا)
• The story of a deaf woman from Iraq who contracted COVID-19 (عربي هنا)

Africa

• 25 Milion Lives at Stake: Nigerians with Disabilities During the Pandemic
• How absence of transport can be fatal: A Story from Uganda
• In Uganda, a Deaf man loses his leg after being shot during curfew
• When accessible information is far from a reality: Zimbabwe during COVID-19
• The experience of a blind woman in Kenya under COVID-19 outbreak
• Being a single mother of two persons with disabilities under COVID-19 (South Africa)
• Autistic students in South Africa: how has their life changed?
• The Story of Rose Rokiatou: COVID-19 Pandemic and Financial Vulnerability of Persons with Disability in Mali (Français ici)
• Two stories from South Africa: how a simple consultation could prevent current massive problems
• From Leprosy to Coronavirus: a domino-like chain reaction of discrimination and exclusion
• “If I just had a job…”, Story of a young man with a physical disability from Kenya
• Voices of some under-represented groups from Uganda

America, Latin

• Voices of Mexico: Disability and COVID-19 | Voces de Mexico: Discapacidad y COVID-19
• COVID-19 in Mexico: the experience of deafblind children told by their mothers (Espanōl)
• COVID-19 for Peruvians with disabilities: wonderful laws but long way to full implementation (Espanōl)
• "We either die of hunger or coronavirus”, COVID-19 in Ecuador (Espanōl)
• COVID-19 in Panama: Where Group Advocacy Has Lead to Considerable Improvement (Espanōl)
• Indigenous persons with disabilities in Mexico: completely forgotten during the pandemic (Espanōl)
• Voices from Colombia: Two Women with Physical Disabilities share their COVID Experience (Espanõl)

America, North and Canada

• COVID-19 in Ontario (Canada): Grocery shopping has never been more difficult for persons with disabilities
  
• “We fall through the cracks”. Stories from two women with psychosocial disabilities from the United States
• “We need to speak up or we will be left behind”: story of a deafblind woman in Massachusetts, United States
• Quebec: the seventh deadliest place in the world for coronavirus due to institutionalization

Asia

• COVID-19 and The Forgotten People (Indonesia)
• COVID-19 in Nepal: What are the challenges for indigenous persons with disabilities?
• COVID-19 in India : Technology can be your best friend or worst enemy
• COVID-19 in Rajasthan (India): What are women with disabilities’ main challenges?
• COVID19 and disability in West Bengal, India: the story of two teachers
• Cut from the World: Pandemic experience for hard of hearing persons in Nepal
• More dangerous than the virus! phobia and stigma experienced by persons with psychosocial disabilities in Nepal
• COVID 19 in Tasmania (Australia): The story of an autistic woman
• Stories from Pakistan: the already inadequate services are being cut due to COVID-19

Europe

• Reopening does not happen equally for everyone: Read Stories of People with Bladder Condition (UK)
• COVID-19 in Romania: Life-threatening situations reported
• How Social Distancing Disproportionally Restricts Persons with Disabilities: A Story From the Netherlands
• ‘I feel forgotten’ - living with chronic illness during Covid19 in the UK
• #WhereIsTheInterpreter? Deaf persons in the UK asking
• The impact of Covid19 on people with intellectual disabilities in Austria (video and transcript)
• COVID-19 attacking Dignity of Persons with Disabilities: Stories from Italy
• An Unlikely Path Out of the Coronavirus restrictions: story of a blind man from Bulgaria
• COVID-19 in Spain: what are the main barriers faced by persons with disabilities? (Espanõl)

Global

• Reaching Persons with Deafblindness
• How is it to be a refugee with disability during the pandemic? Stories from Kenya to Myanmar

2. External Stories

• Sightsavers: Six voices from Malawi
• Rosemary Kayess, Vice Chair of the UN Committee: Months in fear, anxiety and confusion: the life of people with disabilities in COVID-19
• Black Youth Project: Violating stay-at-home orders directly harms Disabled folks, but what else is new?
• Sightsavers: Compilation of Covid19 Stories
• Urgent Appeal Requesting Access to COVID-19 Medical Treatment in Romania
• Compilation of stories by the European Network on Independant Living
• The Experiences of Deafblind amid the COVID-19 Outbreak in India
• Nujeen Mustafa, refugee and disability rights advocate from Syria
• How COVID19 Quarantine is affecting disabled people in Uzbekistan
• Including people with disability in the COVID-19 outbreak emergency preparedness and response in China
• How social media has bridged the communication gap for people with hearing impairments
• Sign Language Interpretations on TV Stations; What’s good, what’s lacking
• The Impact of COVID 19 on Disabled Women from Sisters of Frida
• ADD International variety of stories
• Sylvia Karungi: "Social distancing has been there for people with disabilities"
• Mother mourns death of PUI son with autism after rejection from 3 hospitals
• Baby cries itself to death
• The Leprosy Mission: Covid-19 in Nigeria
• Humanity and Inclusion: Covid19 in Pakistan: Vulnerable family of 5 relies on humanitarian assistance
• Humanity and Inclusion: Covid19 in Pakistan: Quarantine isolates children with disabilities
• Humanity and Inclusion: Covid19 in Ethiopia: No customers, no income for father of 10
• Humanity and Inclusion: Covid19 in Ethiopia: Lockdown halts business & income for mother of 10
• Pasa el micrófono" es un espacio donde las personas con discapacidad escriben sus historias durante COVID 19 (Mexico and Iberoamérica)
• Austin Hospital Withheld Treatment from Disabled Man Who Contracted Coronavirus
• Juju and the Durga Puja festival during the COVID-19 pandemic

3. Persons with Disabilities and Access to COVID-19 vaccination

• Grassroots campaign in Quebec for the Vaccination of Persons with Down Syndrome
• A Successful Advocacy in Austria
• Battle Against Exclusion: Disability rights advocates in India
• “I do not feel well enough informed to make my decision”: vaccination in Nepal
• Light for the World: Front row for the most vulnerable: A call for equitable and inclusive COVID-19 vaccination roll-outs

>> Learn more about Persons with disabilities and access to COVID-19 vaccination here.