Disability Awareness in the Midst of Coronavirus

The past 3.5 months I’ve spent much of my existence fairly immobile and mostly homebound: 2.5 weeks in an aircast, 8 weeks in a boot and 4 weeks in an ankle brace. Why? Because of a torn ligament in my ankle. And more recently, I’ve been in a neck brace due to a herniated disc in my neck/back. And now because of the infamous pandemic, Coronavirus.

And during this time, I have come to understand the synergies at play within my body. You see, this hasn’t just been a simple ankle or neck injury for my body. They are excruciatingly debilitating on their own and even more so because I have so many other comorbid conditions that I have to manage. For instance, one of the ways I manage my arthritis, sacroiliitis and pelvic pain is via exercise and stretching, which this injury prevented me from doing. The other core disease on my long laundry list of diagnoses is gastroparesis, a paralysis of my stomach, and if I don’t walk or exercise, the food I eat doesn’t move or digest properly and this throws off my metabolism (including my cholesterol and liver functions).

So, in the midst of this ankle injury, more recent neck issues and now COVID-19, one by one (and sometimes two by two), my diagnoses flared up, wreaking havoc on my already difficult existence. As if that wasn’t hard enough, I went from using crutches to riding around on a knee scooter and then finally using a cane before attempting to walk unevenly in a boot around New York City. I’ve never used more cabs or received more antagonizing stares in my life. You see, NYC, contrary to what one might believe, is not very disability-friendly, not from a public transportation angle and certainly not from a public sympathy perspective. Bystanders run over you left and right after pushing you, staring at you and cursing at you for not moving fast enough. Patrons of stores or restaurants allow doors to slam on you as they stare at your mobility-assisted device. And many businesses have entrances and exits that have stairs and are not disability-friendly and their door staff sit there and watch as you struggle to enter or exit the building.

But see, the purpose of this blog post isn’t to complain; it’s to raise awareness about what we aren’t doing for the disabled, or crip population. As a person with mostly invisible illnesses, it didn’t strike me until I moved back into NYC and needed mobility assistance to get around how unaware the masses are about their behavior towards the disabled.

And now in the midst of the Coronavirus crisis, even more so: in a time when we should be sharing, we are hoarding. Hoarding hand sanitizer, masks, gloves, toilet paper, food and whatever we can get our hands on as the crip population struggles to access the very things that protect our health and well-being.

To that end, we need a lot more education. Just as children are now receiving education regarding accepting other races, ethnicities, sexual orientations and genders, there needs to be much more done for the chronically ill and disabled. From the getgo, children and adults need to be educated about both visible and invisible illnesses in schools and universities. We need to be taught why people need wheelchairs or need to be fed by tubes or why someone wears an ostomy or needs to prick themselves to check their sugar levels. Others might have mood disorders or be experiencing psychosis while others might not be able to move without pain. We need to be taught that some disabilities are invisible, that many of us have immune systems that are compromised and we shouldn’t judge what we cannot understand. We need to be taught acceptance instead of laughing or staring at those with disabilities for being different.

And where does that acceptance start? It begins at home with parents teaching their children. It starts with the government recognizing and valuing the disabled vote and disabled in a crisis like the one we are facing now. It starts with local governments and public facilities recognizing disabilities and setting up more disability-friendly public transportation and sidewalks. It starts with us asking if the person with disabilities might need assistance rather than staring as they struggle to enter or leave a building. It starts with humanity, kindness and compassion and leaves an impression on us that we too are cared for and a part of society.

More immediately, we need to speak up and stand up for ourselves more than ever before in order to not be pushed over as everyone else gets the care and items they need to survive the pandemic. We too deserve basic safety during this time and deserve to be heard and recognized just like everyone else.

We may have a long ways to go still but I hope that by raising awareness of all kinds of disabilities (both visible and invisible), we can diminish ableism (preferential treatment towards those are able-bodied) and give the chronically ill and disabled the rights and the voice we all deserve especially in a time as crucial as now.

So, own your Crohn’s, own your disability, and advocate for yourselves in the midst of crisis and educate the masses on your condition to eliminate the discrimination we face day in and day out.