[community] Disability Advocacy during the Coronavirus Crisis

[Cybele S]

Here's another complaint that got filed in the U.S. about this situation:
https://www.centerforpublicrep.org/news/cpr-and-partners-file-second-complaint-regarding-illegal-disability-discrimination-in-treatment-rationing-during-covid-19-pandemic/?fbclid=IwAR0NpXKF9-wvvIkU39xFlIvBG2l4ENoJ-2K4AJ3A8xidvp4_cU_TZl-m-CM

On Tue, Mar 24, 2020 at 12:06 PM Cybele S <cybele.sack at gmail.com> wrote:

> I also remember the group Not Dead Yet was engaged in the MAID
> conversation.
>
> Re pre-existing conditions, we should be quite specific.  I remember still
> how those with lung conditions were left out of the Uber policy
> conversation.  They should not be left out now.
>
> So who is particularly at risk in that sense?
>
> Thinking about advocacy, good to include:
>
> COPD and asthma and auto-immune groups.  And diabetes groups.  And HIV
> groups.  And heart and stroke groups.  And others helping folks who are
> immuno-compromised.
>
> Also thinking about people being forced to work who are at higher risk
> from this.
>
> And people experiencing homelessness and poverty.
>
> And all types of people with mental health struggles now.  At this point,
> everyone’s mental health is probably challenged so must be amplifying for a
> lot of people.
>
> The decisions made about who gets a vent could also include those with
> intellectual disabilities and biases against various cognitive disabilities.
>
> And of course all of the age discrimination groups like ACE.
>
> We sometimes have an issue in Canada that disability advocacy is difficult
> because it can be hard to build constituency.  Now it is so needed.
>
> I will start reaching out soon.
>
> Should we try to arrange a zoom call to discuss?
>
> Best,
>
> Cybèle
>
> On Tue, Mar 24, 2020 at 8:51 AM Jutta Treviranus <jtreviranus at ocadu.ca>
> wrote:
>
>> Catherine Frazee and the group that created the Vulnerable Persons
>> Standard http://www.vps-npv.ca, the Canadian Association for Community
>> Living, and the Council of Canadians with Disabilities were addressing this
>> bias before COVID-19. With the passing and revision of Medical Assistance
>> in Dying (MAID) legislation in Canada, there were regulators (and medical
>> decision-makers) that questioned whether a life with disability was worth
>> living. VPS,CACL and CCD have been fighting this attitude and the
>> regulations that have an impact on these choices in healthcare for some
>> time.
>>
>> Jutta
>>
>> > On Mar 24, 2020, at 8:11 AM, pina.dintino at gmail.com wrote:
>> >
>> > I did see something from David Lepovfsky last week, but not much more.
>> > Pina
>> >
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: community <community-bounces at lists.idrc.ocadu.ca> On Behalf Of
>> Ushnish
>> > Sengupta
>> > Sent: March 24, 2020 12:19 AM
>> > To: Inclusive Design Community <community at lists.idrc.ocadu.ca>
>> > Subject: [community] Disability Advocacy during the Coronavirus Crisis
>> >
>> > Anyone know who in Canada is doing disability advocacy work during the
>> > cirisis, ensuring rights remain protected in a changing context?
>> >
>> > Wall Street Journal, Trump and now CNN as I watch it and others are
>> musing
>> > out aloud, while others are making more quiet implicit fatalistic
>> > calculation of jobs vs lives. Who lives is decided according to some
>> > utilitarian calculation of potential long term economic value of a
>> life. In
>> > some calculations, the elderly and disabled are accorded a lower value
>> of
>> > life.
>> >
>> > THESE ARE NOT MY VIEWS, I am raising them as issues being discussed
>> openly
>> > in mainstream media. Here is a sample of articles from the UK and the US
>> > below. Not much to be found from Canada on the topic.
>> >
>> >
>> https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/mar/23/uks-emergency-coronavirus-bi
>> > ll-will-put-vulnerable-at-risk
>> >
>> >
>> https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/us/coronavirus-washington-triage-disabled
>> > -handicapped.html
>> > --
>> > Ushnish
>> > ________________________________________
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>