Students,

Given the news and current events – I wanted to share two articles with you related to the corona virus and how it is impacting the disability community.

As with many current events, the disability community is uniquely impacted both because it is a community of people with unique needs, and because it is a community of people who have been historically disadvantaged and more susceptible to poverty, homelessness, underemployment, and under-education.  In addition, we know that people with disabilities can have unique health concerns and experience barriers to accessing healthcare.  This leads to a very unique and possibly dangerous condition for people with disabilities in this time of crisis.

Check out:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewpulrang/2020/03/08/5-things-to-know-about-coronavirus-and-people-with-disabilities/#5a32476f1d21

And:

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/amymeng/coronavirus-working-from-home-disability-accessibility

These two articles analyze the intersection of the disability community and the current corona virus pandemic.  They are written from very different viewpoints with different priorities in their analysis.  After reading:

1.  Which article do you believe is more accurate from a disability-first perspective (that is, which article most closely relates to the perspective of a person living with disability)?

2.  What stood out most for you from either article in terms of surprising, new, or unexpected information:

3.  What do you think would be the most important concern of leaders when it comes to protecting and serving people with disabilities during a medical pandemic?  Do you think this is the response that can be expected in the US today, and why or why not?

This post resembles one of your options for the Final Project in this course – the compare/contrast of two current events in order to see how disability history informs the author’s perspective, how the article may be received by people with disabilities, and what, if any, lessons from the disability rights movement may be seen within the current event.

As news continues to evolve regarding the corona virus, we will all learn more.  But one thing we know for certain is that people with disabilities are in a unique position during the pandemic, and deserve a unique consideration in the response of our leaders.

Looking forward to reading your thoughts on the topic,