International Day of People with Disabilities and the Covid-19 impact

International Day of People with Disabilities is this week on December 3rd.

Let us think about this coming and every other week about the more than 1 billion people in the world living with some form of disability, of whom nearly 200 million experience considerable difficulties in functioning.

The human rights of persons with disabilities to full and effective participation and inclusion in society on an equal basis with others are laid out in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which is close to universal ratification.

We all know or are people with disabilities . They are your parents, your children, your employees, and your customers, and perhaps you too. You may also become disabled at some point in your life.

See these stats:

• 8% of children are disabled
• 19% of working-age adults are disabled
• 46% of pension age adults are disabled

What do we value in society?

“A person's worth is measured by the worth of what he values,”

 said Marcus Aurelius

How we view and support everyone in society is a measure of who we are. People with disabilities in many countries around the world often live in extreme poverty. Those with dual disadvantages (lack of access to care and poverty) are among the most stigmatized and marginalized people on earth.

They often are isolated from society and excluded from their communities, from the education system, from healthcare and other vital services. Sometimes, they are sadly hidden away by their families. Many disabled women and children also face a heightened risk of domestic and sexual violence.

Disability is not an afterthought but a cross-cutting issue that can affect a person at any point during his or her life span. It’s also about intersectionality with gender, race, ethnicity, language, national or social origin, religion, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, or another status that can result in multiple forms of exclusion, discrimination, and vulnerability.

This years’ focus on the International Day of People with Disabilities is pertinent as it is 'Fighting for Rights in the Post-COVID Era'.

We need to start to ensure we are not developing a digital divide and increasing the employment gap.

Working from home has allowed many people globally to work in a way that would not have been considered in times gone by. Flexible opportunities to work from bed/ from your sitting room/quiet spaces and places/adapted tools. We have gone a long way.

We need to importantly consider at this time those with Covid-19 re-re-emerging once again that people with disabilities may well be those at greater risk than others with what we value the most – their lives.

With patchy and intermittent school closures, children with disabilities may be lacking access to basic services like access to a daily meal; less likely to be able to have assistive technology ( or even the skills, access to basic technology or any internet access) to maintain education and employment; access to basic help at home; and even water, sanitation, and basic hygiene.

Increasing waiting lists for assessments for conditions like ADHD means that parents that think their child needs extra support are waiting several years to gain a diagnosis.

The educational impact

A recent report from the Institute of Fiscal Studies was reported this week in the Guardian.

Its report highlights "how the most disadvantaged fifth of secondary schools have faced the biggest cuts, with a 14% real-terms fall in spending per pupil between 2009 and 2019, compared with 9% for the least deprived schools."

It also says: "recent changes to the way education funding is distributed has compounded that disadvantage by providing bigger real-terms increases for the least deprived schools, making the government’s stated leveling-up goals harder to achieve."

For some families, a lack of transportation choices because of trying to be safer or because of physical challenges accessing transport means that attending medical appointments or support is very difficult to do and can be costly. Remote physiotherapy doesn't do the same thing as real-life physio!

For some people with disabilities, they may be the carer in the family as well and have to look after children or elderly parents who may also be disabled. In our neurodivergent family, we have people with disabilities of all ages and stages!

The economical impact

One or more disabilities can have a huge impact and for some families increase the risk of poverty, through lack of employment and education opportunities, lower wages, and increased cost of living with a disability.

People with disabilities face higher rates of multidimensional poverty compared with persons without disabilities. The employment rates of people with disabilities are substantially lower than the rates for persons without disabilities in developed and developing economies (WHO and World Bank 2011).

The lower rates of economic and labor market participation of persons with disabilities impose a higher welfare burden on governments, highlighting the costs of exclusion, which are estimated to range from 3 to 7% of GDP.

Think big business and the contribution each person can make to society

Why would we not consider the value of the 'purple pound'?

The numbers are huge and the contribution to society could be massive.

When you write your business plan tomorrow can you really ignore 15-20% of potential customers and say you won’t bother with them? What business does that?

The annual online spending power of people with access needs is now £24.8 billion in the UK.

Who is disabled by the processes and practices we put in place?

We recognize that about 1 in 6 people are neurodivergent, but this is much higher in specifically marginalized groups such as those in prison (1 in 3), excluded from education, and the poor ( because of lack of recognition/cumulative adversity).

Worldwide 69 million individuals are also estimated to sustain Traumatic Brain Injuries each year, while 1 in 160 children are identified as on the autism spectrum.

Each person may all have significant challenges and barriers to everyday functioning that are not necessarily noticed or supported unless identified or disclosed.

Why do some people miss out on getting their needs identified and supported?

 ·   Don't know that their challenges can be supported or that their strengths are of great value to society

•  Stigma

·     Fear

·     Shame

·     Don’t know they can ask for help

·     Don’t know where to go for help

·     Don’t have the money to pay for support

• Don't have services available in their locality or country

·     Lack of awareness by parents and professionals

·     Thought of as too expensive to do something

·     Lack of systems and pathways in place and lack of service provision and professional know-how

·     Seen as something else – they have been misdiagnosed ( called also diagnostic overshadowing).

What can we do in the UK?

Disability Confident Scheme in the UK helps companies of all sizes to consider their policies, operations, and measure the gaps that still exist. We need to have the confidence to implement disability-inclusive development programs to ensure hiring and retaining all disabled talent is at the forefront of our minds. We know this framework is relevant to policymakers, government officials, other development organizations, and persons with disabilities and we need to keep reminding all of us that this is our duty and effective participation in society is a human right.

During Covid-19 I have delivered more than 23 webinars highlighting a range of support/practical strategies that can make a difference along with colleagues from Microsoft, Seetec Plus, Ingeus, and Purple Tuesday to name some of the partners.

See these free recorded resources we have delivered in this past year.

Let us not forget those whose lives have been touched by Covid-19 in more ways and continue to be at greater risk. Let us all see that ignoring talent is dreadful and work together to ensure your families and mine have the same chances as others in all corners of this world we live in.

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.”

Plato said.

Do-IT Solutions is very very proud to be shortlisted as a finalist for the Disability Confident Impact Award for 2021.

Professor Amanda Kirby comes from a neurodivergent family and has family members who are/have been disabled by society's barriers. She is the CEO of DO-IT Solutions - a tech for a good company that delivers person-centered screening tools, training, and consultancy.

She has worked in the field of disability for more than 25 years, as a doctor, clinician and researcher, and campaigner.

Notes:

The Equality Act 2010 sets out when someone is considered to be disabled and protected from discrimination.

In the UK you are considered disabled if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect - beyond 12 months - on your ability to carry out day-to-day activities.

An impairment doesn’t have to be a diagnosed medical condition. If you don't have a diagnosis, you will still need some professional evidence to show your impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on your ability to do day-to-day activities.

Person-first or identity-first

Using identity-first language, such as "disabled person" rather than "person with a disability", is preferred by lots of people for a very specific reason - it marks an important academic understanding of disability known as the social model and is the basis of the disability civil rights movement.

Some Facts:

The ‘Purple Pound’ is the name given to the spending power of disabled households, that's any household where at least one member is disabled. In the UK it's worth an estimated £274bn annually! According to Purple, business misses out on £2bn every month if disabled people cannot access their shop or service.

There have been estimates of the impact of inaccessible websites and that businesses lose £17.1bn each year as disabled people click away from a website they can’t access.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that in 2018 the median pay for non-disabled workers was £12.11 an hour, against £10.63 for disabled.

According to Scope, in 2019 the average 'Disability Price Tag', or, the extra cost of living that disabled people have, was £583 a month - that's on top of food and housing.