RI International Commission on Technology and Accessibility (ICTA)
Basic Recommendations for considering Persons with Disabilities during the COVID19 Pandemic
- Always provide information in accessible formats so everybody can understand them.
- Children with disabilities should receive information according to their age.
- Preparedness and response plans, including public restrictions, must be inclusive of and accessible to women and girls with disabilities.
- Persons with disabilities staying at home during quarantine face a higher risk of mental health issues, therefore, governments and other private or social agencies should consider providing adequate measures for stress and anxiety relief.
- Persons with disabilities in need of health services due to COVID19 cannot be deprioritized on the ground of their disability.
- Measures to lessen the impact on the economy persons with disabilities, their families and their organizations, should be considered, including:
- Programs for funding civil society organizations to support their employers keeping to jobs.
- Assistance for self-employed persons with disabilities.
- Cash delivery mechanisms should be accessible for persons with disabilities.
- Mobile phones with accessibility features and e-wallets must be promoted to reduce interaction and keep social distancing.
- Deafblind persons rely on physical interaction with others to communicate, therefore special measures are needed during the pandemic, or even afterwards, some examples are:
- It’s necessary an extra precaution approach to infection control, along with limiting interactions if possible.
- Sanitizing between interactions with different individuals who are deafblind.
- Interpreters also need to take extreme sanitizing measures before and after interacting with them.
- Promote development of innovative technological solutions for communication with deaf/blind persons, besides relaying on touch-based technics.
