Containing the pandemic without leaving people with disabilities behind

As part of its commitment to the response to the Covid-19 pandemic, FIIAPP, together with 180 organisations to date, has signed up to the manifesto launched by the Global Action on Disability Network (GLAD) requesting that all phases of response and recovery from the pandemic be inclusive of people with disabilities.

By joining this request, FIIAPP has again reaffirmed its support for the inclusion of people with disabilities by coordinating this projectBridging the Gap, funded by the European Union, and its entry into GLAD a year ago. GLAD is a coordinating network of bilateral and multilateral organisations, the private sector and foundations that work to improve the inclusion of people with disabilities in international development.

This ‘Call to rebuild an inclusive future for all’ is the result of concern within GLAD regarding the lack of a clear roadmap to address inequality and discrimination against people with disabilities in the processes of containment and mitigation of the pandemic.

The document, presented during a high-level virtual meeting on disability and Covid-19 organised by GLAD and at which Anna Terrón, the director of FIIAPP was present, calls for coordinated work. It requests the joint work of international and regional governments, intergovernmental organisations, foundations, civil society bodies and the private sector, ensuring that recovery from the Covid-19 crisis takes into account the specific rights and needs of people with disabilities.

Among the actions to be implemented are the ten recommendations for an inclusive disability response to Covid-19 developed by the International Disability Alliance (IDA) and the implementation of the report by António Guterres, the United Nations Secretary General, ‘A disability-inclusive response to Covid-19’.

The document also reflects the need to make all information, prevention and intervention measures fully inclusive and accessible, as well as collecting Covid-19 data broken down by disability using the Washington Group questionnaire on disability statistics, and by sex, age, income, race, ethnicity, immigration status, geographic location, as well as other characteristics.

This initiative seeks to tackle the pandemic and the economic crisis while abiding by the general principle of the 2030 Agenda of “leaving no one behind”. To achieve this, smooth communication at all levels with people with disabilities and their representative organisations is essential in the design, application, and monitoring of the implemented actions.