Dilshad Begum, a resident of Tondiarpet, tested positive for COVID-19 in May and was taken to a quarantine centre in Nandambakkam. Being a person with a physical disability, she found the next 10 days under quarantine quite challenging.
“I cannot walk very well, and need support. But in the absence of a caregiver, I was forced to walk across a large hall, where we were all housed, every time I had to consult a doctor or use the bathroom,” she said. The bathrooms too, Ms. Dilshad said, were not disabled-friendly, and the layout of the quarantine centre was such that she had to walk a significant distance without support, at a time when she was already very weak.
With Tamil Nadu having recorded over one lakh COVID-19 cases, disability rights activists are urging the State government to establish accessible quarantine and healthcare facilities across districts and make available the data on the number of persons with disabilities who have tested positive.
T.M.N. Deepak, State president, December 3 Movement, said no such data had been made available by the government so far. “Ensuring that quarantine facilities are accessible to persons with all types of disabilities should be prioritised. Apart from infrastructural access, other facilities — interpreters for the hearing-impaired, for instance — should be available to facilitate barrier-free communication,” he said.
The State Commissionerate for the Persons with Disabilities is working on collating data on the number of persons who have tested positive for COVID-19. While the Commissionerate has written to district administrations, asking them to set up special COVID-19 care facilities for persons with disabilities, activists say this is yet to be implemented.
Caregivers test positive
S. Namburajan, State general secretary, Tamil Nadu Association for the Rights of All Types of Differently-abled and Caregivers, recalled a recent incident where a 22-year-old person with an intellectual disability was left to fend for himself after his parents tested positive for COVID-19. “Accessible facilities should also make a separate provision for persons with disabilities whose caregivers test positive since many of them are highly dependent on caregivers and struggle during an emergency like this,” he said.
Mr. Namburajan added that trained caregivers for persons with intellectual disabilities, interpreters for the hearing impaired, information regarding testing and treatment procedure in audio format or braille for the visually impaired, and accessible infrastructure are some of the facilities that should be made available at the special COVID-19 care centres.
P. Simmachandran of the Tamil Nadu Differently Abled Federation Charitable Trust said many were scared of being tested and quarantined.
