COVID-19: Guidance for People with Disabilities and families

Coronavirus (COVID-19) is rapidly spreading and has infected tens of thousands of people around the world. While anyone and everyone can be infected, it has been proven that certain groups of people face increased risk of getting infected and developing more severe cases of COVID-19, including people with disabilities.

Many disabled people do have specific disabilities or underlying health conditions that make the virus more dangerous for them. People with disabilities also face challenges in avoiding infection since it is not possible for many to follow containment measures being advised.

Given below are some advisories from various health experts & organisations:

1. According to The Spinal Foundation India COVID-19 advisory, Rehabilitation Experts have advised people with Spinal Cord Injuries on the following:

1. Tetraplegics (quadriplegics) must take extra care as COVID-19 affects the respiratory system. For a cervical-injured person, the spinal cord injury would have already impacted the respiratory system, and so they need to be more careful
2. Tetraplegics, especially, should stay clear of crowded places, even if they are in an area where there is no known instance so far of a COVID-19 affected person.
3. Tetraplegics may be better off avoiding outstation travel for now (say the next 30 days and evaluate the situation).
4. Paraplegics should also be careful about stepping out if they are in areas where there are recorded instances of COVID-19

2. Those at greater risk also include people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) or other immunocompromising disorders, especially those whose treatment includes immunosuppression drugs. They are advised to stay at home and avoid contact with others as far as possible.

3. While the ‘best practice’ advice being given is to minimise social/physical contact, this is not always an option for many people who live with disabilities. Washing hands as many times as possible is also another advice. But this too cannot be done independently by many disabled people who rely on personal assistance for survival. You cannot avoid physical contact when you’re reliant on extra hands to help with your daily needs.

Care-giving guidelines

1. Family members/caregivers are advised to wear a mask and to wash their hands or use hand sanitizer each time before they give the required assistance
2. Self-Care: It is likely that you are the person with whom the person with disability has the most daily contact, so the best protection is for you not to acquire the virus. So you should follow the general rules of hand washing, sanitizing and social distancing as stringently as possible.
3. Family members/caregivers who have been in contact with anyone who has shown possible symptoms of the flu or COVID-19, even if they themselves are not symptomatic, are advised to keep their distance from the person with disability they care for.