OBUNGA: What staying at home during pandemic should teach us

The Covid-19 pandemic has proved that working from home is actually possible. We now believe that we can even converge online and pray from home. Meetings online have been made possible by virtual conferencing technology. Well, staying home has been cumbersome for those doing so and people are looking forward to the restoration of a normal life. Some people ‘tired’ of restrictions on movement are playing tricks just so that they can gather and have a few bottles in the company of friends. Some even think they will soon go nuts. Let us now imagine that for most Persons with Disabilities (PWDs), the isolation and restricted movement has been their normal all along.

The highly contested 2019 census revealed that 918, 213 people live with disabilities, a majority of whom (385, 417) have a lack of mobility. The employability of PWDs has remained far much lower compared to the rest of the population. Some employees view accommodating a PWD at the workplace as expensive. Others fail to offer them employment (and even when offered, lots of complaints arise) because of a lack of flexibility in working hours. For those with mobility disabilities, the main barrier is poor access. I once boarded a matatu in which I overheard the conductor tell the driver not to stop and pick a woman in a wheelchair by the roadside. The conductor cited time wastage in helping the woman board and claimed that there was no space. And the driver was obedient to his conductor. In the past, we have read reports about some people hunting those with albinism for their body parts. These see many PWDs secluded from other people as well as opportunities that they should have entitlements to just like any other person. Persons living with disabilities face negative social attitude in society. Most have limited access to education, which see them confined to positions of economic disadvantages.

The distress and anxiety people are facing as a result of the ongoing restriction in movement is something that most persons with disabilities have faced their entire lives. And while we yearn to go back to our normal life, these people have no normal to go back to. This isolation has been their normal. The big question then is, if it is possible for us to work from home, pray from home, hold meetings from home, what excuse do we hold for having to continue discriminating persons with disabilities?

The pandemic has proved that denying people job opportunities while hinting at doubts about working from home is a lame excuse. And there are a few more lessons we can learn from this.

Those who cannot put up with isolation anxiety and distress perhaps can learn how to manage it from those who have been in isolation for longer-persons with disabilities.

If the government can organise for learning over the internet, radio and television, why not devise the same for these people even after the pandemic? In this pandemic is the realisation that great opportunities for operating from home exist for those with disabilities if only appropriate measures are put in place. Even those who have the responsibilities of giving care can still work from home; dividing their time between care-giving and working. Covid-19 has also shown us how useful digital communication is in our lives. It is time we also equipped the people with disabilities without these skills. It can help them connect to the world like the rest even if it is from their homes. Now that we have had a taste of what it feels like to be separated from other people, those who had expressed negativity towards people with disabilities should come out of the pandemic as more understanding of these person’s situation. Let us learn how to treat others better and how to be more tolerant from the pandemic.