{"id":4827,"date":"2020-04-03T21:43:16","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T21:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/?p=4827"},"modified":"2020-11-16T11:27:18","modified_gmt":"2020-11-16T16:27:18","slug":"webcast-archive-covid-19-recommendations-from-disability-organizations-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2020\/04\/webcast-archive-covid-19-recommendations-from-disability-organizations-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Webcast Archive: COVID-19 Recommendations from disability organizations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>During the COVID-19 pandemic, we will not present our webcast, due to technical problems caused by heavy internet usage. However we are providing the text as a bulletin to offer up-to-date information about assisted suicide, euthanasia and ending-of-life practices for the disability community.<\/p>\n<p><b>COVID-19 RECOMMENDATIONS FROM DISABILITY ORGANIZATIONS<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/archdisabilitylaw.ca\/covid-19-and-disability-recommendations-to-the-canadian-government-from-disability-related-organizations-in-canada-march-24-2020\/?fbclid=IwAR05X0RT86PgNNV9cpktIKqG0sQr50LSgTE42zEr1ELEhW3He851bSt2SjE\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">statement<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was released on March 24 by 33 disability organizations, including the Council of Canadians with Disabilities and the Canadian Association for Community Living, recommending action to support disabled people during the COVID-19 pandemic.\u00a0 It takes for granted that \u201ctriaging guidelines will result in people with disabilities being denied care,\u201d and calls on the federal government to \u201cissue <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">an explicit national values statement affirming the equal rights of people with disabilities to available medical treatment.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meanwhile disability activists in the United States have<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.centerforpublicrep.org\/news\/cpr-and-partners-file-additional-complaints-regarding-illegal-disability-discrimination-in-treatment-rationing-during-covid-19-pandemic\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">filed complaints<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> over emergency plans in four states that violate laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability. The differences are noteworthy.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Canada, discriminatory triage is accepted as a given; in the U.S. it is challenged as a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dredf.org\/the-illegality-of-medical-rationing-on-the-basis-of-disability\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">violation of civil rights<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and anti-discrimination laws.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Canada, activists ask for a \u201cnational values statement affirming the equal rights of people with disabilities to available medical treatment.\u201d In the U.S., activists call on congress to \u201censure the rights of individuals with disabilities and older adults to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aapd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Disability-Civil-Rights-COVID-Letter_Final_3.24.20.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">be free from discrimination<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The statement from Canadian activists reads in part: \u201cIt is imperative that the Government of Canada urgently address the unique vulnerabilities of people with disabilities and their families during the COVID-19 crisis. People with disabilities represent 22% of the Canadian population. Many are at extreme risk and require additional support to ensure their health and safety at this time.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSome people with disabilities are vulnerable to COVID-19 because of the nature of their disability and related health challenges. Many others are at risk because of the measures put in place in response to COVID-19 which require people with disabilities and their families to distance themselves from their communities and support systems and to invest funds up front for supplies needed to maintain wellbeing during an extended period of isolation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIf Canada\u2019s healthcare system becomes overburdened by COVID-19, most triaging guidelines will result in people with disabilities being denied care; triaged out of care solely on the basis of having a disability. This was the case during the SARS and H1N1 pandemics and we have no reason to believe that guidelines have changed. Canadians with disabilities may be refused ventilators or life support in a moment of crisis because they have a disability. This discriminatory policy is of great concern.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cFamily stress and reduced staff support is already proving to be a challenge as schools, daycares, and recreational activities close and children and adults with disabilities must stay home and rely on family or staff. As lifestyles shift to promote social distancing, people with disabilities require support in navigating alternative approaches to maintaining their independence, health, and safety in everyday life. For some, this shift is not only difficult to manage but impossible to negotiate alone.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIndeed, family members are having to step up and step away from other priorities and sources of income to fill gaps in disability support for their loved ones. They are absorbing the costs of COVID-19 personally and out of necessity; and they are terrified of what will happen if they themselves become infected and must self-quarantine. People with disabilities and their families need immediate financial support.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cPeople living in group arrangements also have evolving needs which now must largely be met from within their residences, on the fly, and with very little guidance or resourcing from public health agencies or governments. We know that there are now staffing shortages because of this concentration of need and as staff self-isolate for their own protection. Further, staff may be anxious about getting sick or being vectors of COVID-19 transmission both inside and outside the workplace.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cCanada must step up to the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/EN\/NewsEvents\/Pages\/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25725&amp;LangID=E\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">challenge<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> set by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to provide for continuity of care, financial aid, and reassurance that the survival of people with disabilities is a priority<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe therefore recommend that the Canadian government:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIssue an explicit national values statement affirming the equal rights of people with disabilities to available medical treatment and care including in circumstances of pandemic triage, and more broadly, reaffirming Canada\u2019s commitment to the rights of persons with disabilities to equality and inclusion, as enshrined in the Charter, provincial, federal and territorial human rights law, and in Canada\u2019s international obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cEnsure that all announcements made by the Prime Minister and the Public Health Agency are fully accessible and in plain language, and that all networks publicly broadcasting these announcements are mandated to capture these accessibility features.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cRelease guidelines for service providers and people with disabilities who must continue to interact with service providers, to keep everyone safe and to ensure that necessary support continues. Provide protective equipment such as gloves and masks and prioritize the screening of support staff and personal caregivers in private homes and care centers. Encourage the provinces and territories to recognize caregivers and disability support staff as essential service providers.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cEstablish a Citizen Task Force inclusive of people with disabilities, their families, and relevant civil society organizations to monitor evolving needs and advise on remedial strategies in real time, as adverse policy impacts affecting the provision of essential disability related care and support become apparent. Long term, following the COVID-19 pandemic, this group could help to inform a disability inclusive Federal emergency response plan for pandemics and other nation-wide emergency situations.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cProtect the income of people with disabilities and their families. Support businesses who have hired people with disabilities by offering them education in how best to provide accommodations and accessible work-from-home measures for their employees. Extend EI Caregiver Benefits to those who are stepping into a caregiver role due to illness or isolation from COVID-19.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cConnect with individual Indigenous communities across Canada to assess the current state of their operations and identify the critical health and disability related needs of their members with a disability and the best way to meet those needs. Implement a comprehensive communications plan to ensure that Indigenous communities and their members are receiving information in a timely and accessible manner.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cTransfer funds to the provinces and territories that are marked for the health and support needs of people with a disability. Work with the provinces and territories to encourage considered approaches to disability inclusion throughout the country&#8230;<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThis is not an exhaustive list of all that can or should be done to support people with disabilities in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is intended to be used as a starting point for governments to build upon in collaboration with people with disabilities as the pandemic response unfolds and new needs become apparent.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The statement is presented by:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Abilities Centre<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Active Living Alliance for Canadians with a Disability<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ARCH Disability Law Centre<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Barrier free Canada \u2013 Canada sans barri\u00e8re<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">British Columbia Aboriginal Network on Disability Society<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Canadian Association for Community Living<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Canadian Association of the Deaf-Association des Sourds du Canada<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Canadian Autism Spectrum Disorder Alliance<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Canadian Council of the Blind<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Canadian Council Rehabilitation Work<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Canadian Disability Participation Project<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Canadian Hard of Hearing Association<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CNIB Foundation<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Communication Disabilities Access Canada<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Council of Canadians with Disabilities<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">DisAbled Women\u2019s Network of Canada \/ R\u00e9seau d\u2019Action des Femmes Handicap\u00e9es du Canada (DAWN-RAFH Canada)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Empower, The Disability Resource Centre<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Every Canadian Counts Coalition<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Family Support Institute of BC<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Independent Living Canada<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Independent Living Nova Scotia<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">L\u2019Arche Canada<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">March of Dimes Canada<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Muscular Dystrophy Canada<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">National Network of Mental Health<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People First of Canada<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pooran Law<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Qu\u00e9bec Accessible<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Realize<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rick Hansen Foundation<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Spinal Cord Injury BC<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Spinal Cord Injury Canada<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The statement adds three \u201cextremely beneficial\u201d measures the federal government should take, as well as ten ways in which the national government should \u201ctake a leadership role\u201d to ensure that provinces and territories provide necessary services, supports and communications to people with disabilities.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s also worth noting that, as of April 2, we were unable to find this statement in French.\u00a0 We have made it available to our French readers, but as usual our translation is not of professional quality.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n   ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-summary\">\n<div class=\"entry-summary\">\nThis week: More than thirty disability organizations issue recommendations to federal and provincial governments to ensure fair treatment of disabled people during the COVID-19 pandemic.\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2020\/04\/webcast-archive-covid-19-recommendations-from-disability-organizations-2\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Webcast Archive: COVID-19 Recommendations from disability organizations&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2020\/04\/webcast-archive-covid-19-recommendations-from-disability-organizations-2\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Webcast Archive: COVID-19 Recommendations from disability organizations&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[92],"tags":[354,735,737,729,775,95,93,258,923,99,94,727,730,740,770,96,98,468,156,724,373],"class_list":["post-4827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-webcast-archive","tag-autonomy","tag-choice","tag-competent","tag-degenerative","tag-descrimination","tag-dignity","tag-disease","tag-eligibility","tag-end-of-life-en-2","tag-medical-aid-in-dying","tag-medical-assistance-in-dying","tag-nursing-home","tag-palliative","tag-quality-of-life","tag-rationing","tag-safeguards","tag-suffering","tag-terminal","tag-triage","tag-ventilator","tag-vulnerable","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4828,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4827\/revisions\/4828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}