Considering Women with Disabilities During Covid-19 Pandemic

Covid-19 pandemic as we all know is a world threatening desease which originated from Wuhan, China sometimes in December 2019.

This desease affects everyone not minding race, gender, social status, nationality or health status. However, the medical personnel have warned that the state of one’s immunity and health may be contributing factors in how the person responds to treatment. They added that those having ill health or who are ageing may have higher dieing rate than those who are healthy with strong immune systems and young.
But another area not much talked about is the issue of how the disability community are being affected with Covid-19 pandemic. They have peculiar challenges that need different approaches and strategies to manage. This is because, not all the disability persons has adequate access to right information, self isolation, working from home, financial resources to sustain life and family.
Worst still, the challenges faced by Women with Disabilities (WWD) are more severe than that of the general disability community. Many WWD are not economically viable neither are they well educated and therefore rely on friends and family to survive. These pose huge challenges to them in the face of Covid-19 pandemic where one needs to avoid going out to meet others, stop working and remain indoor. One big challenge is the possibility of a non relative male care giver of a disability woman to exploit her this season of pandemic.
Responding to the question of how the rights of WWD could be protected and how adequate information on Covid-19 mitigation measures could be made available, Ms Judith Ekaete led FACICP Plus has come up with an initiative of running a situation room for WWD. Below is the link to the Facebook page where more information on the situation room could be obtained.