by Borbála Ivicsics Hello, my name is Borbála Ivicsics, Bori for short. I live in Hungary, located in Central/Eastern Europe. I have been living with a physical disability my whole life, but I would say that I became a disability activist…
COVID Blog: How Indian Disability Non-profits are Evolving to Face the Challenges of COVID-19
By Arundhati Nath From global containment failures to the improper development of disaster-resistant systems, COVID-19 has severely affected the economic, social, educational, and healthcare requirements of all individuals, especially those with disabilities. In India, where people with disabilities have traditionally faced…
COVID Blog: My Disability-Led Workplace Handled COVID-19 Better Than My School and Hospitals By Listening to Young Disabled People
by Issy Orosz As a disabled and queer young person, I wear several “hats” including: a final year high school student, a worker in the disability sector, and someone who has had multiple long-term hospital stays. During the pandemic, my collection of “hats” has filled my…
COVID Blog: Chinese Women with Disabilities in COVID-19
by Luanjiao Aggie Hu Disabled women account for one fifth of global population and over half among all people with disabilities worldwide. Global literature has often documented disabled women’s multiple disadvantages based on gender, disability, and oftentimes poverty status. Disabled…
COVID Blog: This Precious Thing – Kindness, Rights, and New Zealand’s COVID Response
by Henrietta Bollinger Mere days before New Zealand’s lockdown was announced, a journalist interviewed my flatmates and I about our concerns in the face of a pandemic. She had done a lot of reporting on disabled community issues, so we trusted her. We…
Getting COVID-tested while Blind: Self-Advocacy (& A lot of phone calls)
By Danielle McCann When I found out that I’d been exposed to COVID-19, I was worried, but once I started trying to get tested, I was floored by the responses I got back. Either I was endlessly on hold, only…
COVID Blog: U.S. Disability Benefits Applicants in ‘Abyssful’ Purgatory
by Sabrina White The Social Security Administration (SSA)’s severely flawed disability determination/reconsideration process is having an even deadlier impact on persons with disabilities than usual. Granted, it is fully understood that the target populations for Social Security benefits are people…
COVID Blog: Mental Health in the Time of Corona
By Kale Sastre When I first heard about Coronavirus, it didn’t seem much different than other health scares I’ve lived through. I thought this would be a good chance to get some cheap plane tickets, though I was disappointed that…
COVID Blog: How the COVID-19 Pandemic has Exacerbated Pre-Existing Ableism & Difficulties in India
By Arundhati Nath India is the second-most populous country in the world with more than 1.3 billion people. According to the latest census conducted by the Government of India in 2011, only 26.8 million people with disabilities live in India. This is a mere 2.23%…
COVID Blog: The Stutter Box – The Alchemy of Support Groups for Stutterers
by Emma Alpern For many stutterers, support groups are a source of community and empowerment outside of the world of corrective speech therapy. In meeting with other people who stutter — often for the first time — members experience conversation…