A Dialogue on Expectations & Challenges of Persons with Disabilities during CoVID Crisis

About the Webinar:

The world as we knew and are living in has been redefined in a lot of ways since the crisis of CoVID-19. Sudden announcements of lockdown and containment zones, social distancing, shift to "stay at home", dependency on virtual mediums, and wearing face masks are the "new normal", which has changed the life for most of us but those who were already vulnerable, are significantly impacted. As we see the physical world shifting and adapting to the COVID 19 pandemic, it is important that we not only remember the value of social relationships and interactions, but also be cognizant to the additional challenges faced by vulnerable population including persons with disabilities, elderly, and children. Studies have reflected that the current pandemic has disproportionately impacted the elderly, co-morbid, and PwDs. However, their inclusion in most of the advisories and city response systems has been mostly an after-thought. While Persons with Disabilities constitute a significant number of 2.68 crores (Census of India, 2011), it is imperative to address the issues and concerns of the persons with disabilities and initiate a dialog of its inclusion into the city's immediate response system. The webinar will aim to capture the expectations, experiences & concerns of persons with disabilities in aspects including mapping the barriers faced by Persons with Disability, access and availability of essential services, health care systems, information & public services, rising mental health concerns, among many others.

The pandemic has fortified the connections between public health, environment, and economy and has retracted the way the urban areas and built environment have been planned. Defining the new normal post-CoVID would require adaption to universal access to services and infrastructure and need to be resonated within the city planning norms and approach. A paradigmatic change is expected in the city planning process with a special focus towards building a resilient city through better planning of integrated and inclusive urban systems. Newer ways of improving capacities and accessibility of public health care systems, better management of public resources, accessibility, and inclusion of smart technologies, strengthening the WASH infrastructure, and public hygiene shall be explored creating stronger socio-economic bonds within the communities, enabled by better governance mechanisms. The webinar will also target to discuss the role of inclusive digital technology, the applicability of universal design principles and urban innovative ways for improving mental health, to provide an inclusive approach in urban resilience framework to pandemics like COVID-19. 

Objectives:

1. To understand the expectations, challenges, and concerns of the vulnerable group of persons with different kinds of disabilities
2. To integrate the tenets of inclusive development within the framework of resilient cities to make them responsive and effective during the times of epidemic/pandemic like CoVID-19.

What will you learn:

1. Understand the impact of CoVID from the perspective of a person with disability
2. Physical and Mental challenges that Pandemics have brought to the forefront
3. Current opportunities in the city response and recovery plans to be made more inclusive;
   1. Access to information and public services in cities to address the barriers of persons with disabilities
   2. Public health and hygiene issues and concerns
4. Significance of integration of Universal design in developing accessible and inclusive Urban systems in light of “New Normal”
5. How to plan and prepare in a more inclusive manner for future pandemics/disaster/emergency?

Link to join the webinar - https://primetime.bluejeans.com/a2m/register/zvsqxgxb

Website - http://niua.org/

About the programme - BASIIC webpage