THE COVID-19 crisis has magnified the vulnerabilities of persons with disabilities (PWDs) and highlighted the limits of the country’s current social protection system.
Despite the government’s efforts to roll out new measures, most persons with disabilities have not yet received any support seven months now after the first lockdown, based on the quick survey conducted by the Philippine Coalition on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
A United Nations study released in May this year observed that middle-income countries with more comprehensive social protection systems, including national disability registry, universal disability allowance and support services were able to provide rapid relief. We should do the same.
Overall, persons with disabilities have less income and more expenses than those without disabilities, which greatly increase their vulnerability, and undermine their economic empowerment and escape from poverty.
Persons with disabilities have been asking the government for increased budget for years, but allocation from 2018 to 2020 have been gradually decreasing instead, according to Social Watch Philippines, a network of a hundred civil society organizations advocating for transparent, efficient, accountable and pro-poor use of public funds.
A report from the 2016 National Disability Prevalence Survey says that there are at least 12 percent of persons with disabilities age 15 and over which face significant barriers in accessing education and health care, community and citizenship participation, and seizing economic opportunities.
Due to the lack of support services, most of those requiring personal assistance have to rely on family members who have to reduce or stop working to provide such support.
To cope with their already challenging circumstance prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, persons with disabilities need disability support. At the very least, the support must address some of the most critical needs of this particularly vulnerable sector.
How we treat the least of our brethren such as persons with disabilities reflect what kind of society we are.
