Over the lockdown I have enjoyed listening to the Coronavirus podcast on National Radio, which looked at a different aspect of our country’s CoVid 19 response in each episode. 

When the topic turned to disability and CoVid 19, I was fascinated to know what angle it would take. On too many occasions the media generates unhelpful stereotypes of people with disabilities, pigeon-holing us by our impairments, rather than focusing on our contributions as individuals or as a community. So I didn’t know how it would go. Sometimes media are doing a better job these days. When journalists (with or without disabilities) make the effort to tap directly into the experiences and insights of disabled people, they can find a rich vein of lived experience there that can deepen and broaden their stories.

But as it turned out I was disappointed that evening on RNZ. When I tuned in, I found not one disabled person’s voice on the podcast that was supposed to deal with living with disability amidst the CoVid 19 outbreak.

People who were sick spoke on the show, along with Garth Bennie, the New Zealand Disability Support Network, and a parent of disabled teenagers. But nothing was said about the innovative work being done by disabled people in responding to the particular challenges in the disability community posed by CoVid 19.

That was a missed opportunity. It is already frustrating when disabled people’s voices are absent from news stories every other day – in politics or fashion, religion or sport – but it’s even more glaring when disabled people’s voices are absent when they are subject of the story. You’d think that disabled people would be the first and most obvious place the media would turn when looking for experts on living with disability!

Meanwhile, as the magnitude of this global health crisis drove home for us all, the New Zealand disability community immediately set to work – advocating for the essentials our diverse community would need to ensure equal access to health, safety and education during this time. 

The big issues disabled people in Aotearoa New Zealand have got in behind during this time have been:

• Ensuring adequate distribution of essential Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for home support workers and disabled people

• Establishing safe and practical ways to get essential services and shopping to locked down disabled community members

• Working to translate all  CoVid 19 information into accessible formats including Sign Language Videos for Deaf people and Easy Read for people with learning impairments.

• Setting up systems to counteract increased isolation for some disabled people with disabilities

• Addressing the skill and support changes we needed to address the ‘digital divide’.

For some in the disability community, working from home and meeting by Zoom has liberated them from the barriers of getting around physical environments, but for others, lockdown has led to the challenge of increased isolation. 

At the same time at a Government level, the Disabled Persons Assembly (DPA) and others stepped up to support the Ministry of Health with advice on how to meet our community’s diverse needs. This has seen a lot of quick creative thinking and action by people with disabilities to make sure all New Zealanders can have equal access to essential services during this period.

In short, the disabled community around the country have been one important part of the many heroic teams of people working to ensure everyone stayed safe and received the support they needed to live in dignity during this time.

The challenge now for the media – and of course for us as the church – is to remember that talking about people with disabilities in the third person again over this time masks how disabled people have contributed their talents and insights to help us all get through the crisis.

The proactive and responsive work of disabled people during the pandemic once again highlights the strength and creativity that lies within the disability community.

So let’s look back on the part disabled people played during this time, not as only the ones to be cared for, but as contributors to a message of hope and resilience that is a great part of our CoVid response story so far.