Salute to the Differently Abled!

Social Distancing

Social distancing is the need of the hour but isn’t it very difficult for the differently-abled due to the dependence on others to fulfill physiological requirements?

Newspapers, news websites, TV channels and social media have been filled with nothing much except for coronavirus over the last few months as it has tragically gone global.

However, not much has been spoken about its impact on Persons with Special Abilities and the fears they face post the onslaught of the virus. In fact, the only mention of disability are the sly social media tweets about how the disabled were always right in propagating “work from home” once new age companies that had the luxury to offer it announced it.

Many challenges

What has not been talked about is how Persons with different abilities are more susceptible to viruses like the coronavirus than others. Let’s start with the biggest “DO” to avoid Coronavirus, regularly washing your hands. Well, many Persons with Disabilities cannot independently wash our hands without getting into physical contact with our attendants and/or caretakers as they are physically dependent on others for it. Besides, it is much tougher to regularly wash hands in public due to the lack of toilets for Persons with Disabilities.

Next, we are told to practice “social distancing” and “social isolation”.

For a person with a physical disability, distancing is very tricky due to the dependence on others to fulfill physiological requirements. It is equally unreasonable to expect a person with an intellectual disability to cope in isolation of their guardian. For many, it could even mean regular visits to hospitals and rehabilitation centers for various kinds of time bound therapies that just cannot stop due to a virus.

To make matters worse, many disabilities result in individuals being at higher risk in case they get coronavirus.

For example, it’s common for those with spinal cord injuries to have compromised pulmonary functions or those with muscular dystrophy to have lower diaphragm function leading to lung problems making them particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus.

Samarthanam’s Initiative

Amidst all this chaos the differently-abled are just as brave as our doctors & Soldiers. Salute to the truly special people of the society & At Samarthanam we are transforming the lives of people with disabilities and the underprivileged & acknowledging the bigger crisis this Pandemic poses for them.