We hope that all of you are safe and secure during this uncertain time brought about by the COVID-19 public health crisis. Like many of you over the last week, we switched to working remotely from our homes, settled our school-aged children into a new routine as their schools closed, made sure that our personal assistants have what they need to keep supporting us or our family members, and worried about our fellow humans.
We know that there is a multitude of mutual support and care happening around the world, and everyone at DREDF is grateful to have your support, and be able to do what we are best at: defend the civil and human rights of disabled people and our families.
As advocacy organizations throughout the country rally to provide essential services to people impacted by COVID-19, we have a message for lawmakers and providers of health care, education, transportation, housing, and other critical services:
Disabled, chronically ill, and aging people are essential to our society, and our disability civil and human rights must be defended. While we understand the need to adapt how our systems operate, it cannot be at the expense of disabled people.
The effects of the COVID-19 crisis will hit disabled people and their families disproportionately. DREDF will continue to work in coalition with our community, organizational partners and political allies to provide technical assistance and be a connector of people, resources, and information.
We will continue to hope and fight for the best, which will only be achieved by uniting across community lines and continuing to press for change—especially now.
While we may be "socially distant," none of us at DREDF are moving away from the fight for disability civil and human rights, especially not when it comes to:
- Ensuring that disabled students' education rights aren't "forgotten" or dismissed as nonessential in this time of crisis
- Advocating for access and inclusion in all emergency measures regarding bioethics, shelter, transportation, and in-home supports and services
- Pushing—as we always have—for the ADA's application to the digital world so that we are able to communicate, connect, and cope during this crisis.
You can find our recommendations on proposed policy, legislative priorities, and links to resources on our COVID-19 webpage, which will be updated regularly.
With you, we've got this. We're disabled. We know crisis. We will persist.
Stay tuned for more on DREDF's policy responses.