Life is difficult when one is disabled. COVID-19 has made the situation just worse. In the 21st century when we talk about modernization and progress the attitude towards persons with disability has remained an enigma for society.

There are deep-rooted stigmas which have been nurtured over the ages. In the present times, there has been a change in the governmental approach and some non-governmental agencies are actively working for their social acceptability and equal rights. However, these efforts might have brought relief for some but a large number are still languishing. They dont need empathy, they need empowerment.

Often looked down upon and subjected to the ridicule they are fighting a giant monolith of prejudice which is staring at them with disdain. COVID-19 has added to their woes.

When the world is worried about the health risk of the aged population when the migrant labourers in India walk miles and die unattended on the roads they may have toiled hard to build, the disabled somewhere find life to be cruelly unjust to them.

Though some newspapers have commented on their plight they hardly get any national television coverage. This brings us again to that controversial question. Are they not that significant for the TRPs or they dont qualify to be used as pawns in the political slugfest?

The lockdown that has been imposed by the government is to save a populous country like India from severe community transmission. As I write, the numbers of infected are rising and deaths are being reported across the country.

A sudden lockdown had its fallout. Migrant labourers, poor daily wage earners have been badly hit. Though policies have been announced for their relief, there are cases of death and starvation as the essentials didnt reach them. But what about the disabled? They are among the worst hit.

Hand washing is one of the mandatory precautions for viruses like COVID-19 but many of them find it difficult to follow this practice.

Social distancing can be a nightmare as they have to depend on others because of their bodily constraints. Accessing hospitals and rehabilitation centers is another challenge.

An article in The Print, while commenting on the hardships faced by persons with disability, narrates the plight of a lady entrepreneur from Kolkata who was prescribed hydroxychloroquine because of her acute arthritis but failed to procure the drug after people went on a hoarding spree.

She was unable to access food as in the initial days of lockdown food delivery was hit and she had to survive on the kindness of people around. Caregivers unable to reach people like her compounded the problem.

United Nations in its Disability-Inclusive Responsive Policy brief observes that people with disabilities are among the most excluded groups in the society and are among the hardest hit because of the pandemic.

Eighty per cent of the one billion populations of persons with disabilities reside in developing countries. They are most vulnerable to this virus because of their inability to implement basic protection measures.

They are susceptible to secondary conditions and co-morbidities like lung problems, diabetes and heart disease, and obesity. People residing in institutional settings like nursing homes, social care homes, psychiatric facilities and penitentiaries suffer due to barriers in implementing basic measures and limited access to COVID-19 related information, testing and healthcare.

Evidence across the globe suggests that persons with disability in institutional settings are experiencing the highest rates of infections and deaths from COVID-19.

They are staring at a loss of employment and social protections are hard to come by. Disabled students are less likely to benefit from distance learning solutions. While measures to contain the virus spread have led to significant disruptions to their support systems, women and girls with disabilities have been subjected to domestic violence.

Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India has come up with Comprehensive Disability Inclusive Guidelines for protection and safety of persons with disabilities during the pandemic. The ministry has acknowledged the fact that persons with disabilities are at greater risk because of their physical, sensory and cognitive limitations.

They have laid down the guidelines which include information about COVID 19, precautions and services offered to be made available to them through Braille and audiotapes, video-graphic material with subtitles and sign-language interpretation, ensuring essential support services, personal assistance to them during quarantine, allowing caregivers to reach such persons during the lockdown, priority delivery of food, water, medicines to their residence or where they are quarantined.

It also calls for priority in treatment and exempting persons with disabilities in the public and private sector from essential service work, online counselling to deal with stress and 24x7 helpline numbers with facilities of sign language interpretation and video calling.

There is provision for state nodal authorities to deal with disability-specific issues during this crisis period. They look impressive on paper. The real concern is the ground implementation.

In a report published in a national English daily the head of an NGO working with the disabled lamented that neither cops nor response teams formed by the government understand sign language used by those who are deaf and mute. The guidelines issued by the government department matters little to the disabled persons in the unorganized sector as they find it difficult to have access to these.

We are living in the worst of times amidst the best of opportunity to look at life afresh. Its time we rethink on the way we have treated persons with disabilities.

Today we are all suffering from a disability to move out, to socialize on the roadside caf. We are unable to travel wherever we wish. Persons with disability are living with acute limitations every day.

The societal discourse must give utmost importance to their hardships. News channels must take up their stories and through visuals and debates drive home the message that they are among the worst hit. A large section of the population is crying in silence. Lets give them the justice which has been long denied.

(Dr Soumya Dutta is Assistant Professor, Dept of Journalism & Mass Communication, Loreto College, Kolkata. He can be reached on soumyadutta.dutta@gmail.com)

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The Disabled during COVID-19: Missing in the National Discourse - indiablooms