A disability rights organization, Sightsavers Nigeria has launched a petition to the United Nations (UN) with a call on the body to ensure the needs of people with disabilities who are facing the worst effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sightsavers’ Disability Inclusion Advisor, Shikuku Obosi in a statement said the lives of people with disabilities are being put at greater risk due to a lack of action from governments around the world to meet their needs during the pandemic, according to campaigners.
He said the decision to petition the UN is part of Sightsavers’ Equal World campaign, seeking to amplify the voices of people with disabilities and highlight the denial of rights that they face globally.
Obosi, who is based in Nairobi, said: “This is a life or death situation. Like everyone else, we are anxious, we are doing our best to ensure we don’t catch or spread this virus, while we try to feed ourselves and our families.
“We, people with disabilities, are people. Just people. Nothing special or unusual. The difference is that we are also having to bend over backwards to get any recognition that we exist and that we also need assistance from our governments and development organisations. We are human too and we matter as well.”
He said complaints from people with disabilities include being deprioritised to receive health care; not being given vital information in accessible formats; denial of essential personal support; increased risk of contracting COVID-19 in institutions and barriers for women and girls who wish to claim their sexual and reproductive health rights.
Adding his voice, Kaduna-based Country Director for Sightsavers Nigeria and Ghana, Dr. Sunday Isiyaku said: “COVID – 19 has exacerbated discrimination and exposed existing inequalities for people with disabilities.
“For example, here in Nigeria we are seeing people with disabilities been discriminated against, denied access to health care facilities, awareness information and needed economic palliative support in spite of their vulnerability. In fact, in Jigawa, a special assistant to the Governor on special needs who contracted COVID-19 passed on as a result of denied access to health care.
“Due to ongoing discrimination all over the world we see that when a disaster like the COVID-19 pandemic strikes, people with disabilities are the hardest hit and the least supported.”
Corroborating Isiyaku, Campaign Manager of Equal World, Natasha Kennedy, expressed optimism that the disability rights movement is in a strong position to influence the UN right now.
“Its new Disability Rights framework could ensure the needs of people with disabilities are recognised and met across the entire UN system, including within its emergency health responses.
“We need the UN and member states to step-up their efforts to make this happen. This cannot be put on the backburner. We are in an international crisis and there are up to 1 billion people with disabilities who are trying to survive without the recognition or support they need,” she said.
Sightsavers is an international organisation that works in more than 30 developing countries to prevent avoidable blindness, treat and eliminate neglected tropical diseases, and promote the rights of people with disabilities.
With 2.2 billion people globally with vision impairment, at least 1 billion people have a vision impairment or blindness that could have been prevented or is yet to be addressed.
In the last seven decades, Sightsavers, since its inception, has supported more than 1.2billion treatments for neglected tropical diseases and has carried out more than 7.7 million cataract operations to restore sight, over 196 million eye examinations and dispensed more than 4.6 million glasses.