No Vaccine for Persons with Disabilities?

The Alberta Reference guide on COVID-19 for People with Disability has not been updated since April 2020. As a result, the guide states that there is “no vaccine”. The reference also boasts problematic and generic COVID-19 recommendations that may not apply to Persons with Disabilities (PWD). For example, the guide recommends to “wash your hands a lot with soap and water…for at least 20 seconds”. It also orders PWD to wear masks. The World Health Organization explained that PWD face barriers to COVID-19 hygiene measures, such as physical barriers that cause inaccessibility to hand basins or sinks. Wearing a mask can pose difficulties for various reasons, such as issues with breathing. 

Comparison between Provinces  

Alberta’s guide for PWD offers some ill-advised COVID-19 public health strategies. Calgary Ability Network stated that some PWD are met with frustration about the public health orders. They have been left to question their ability to safely engage in the community; others have reduced the guide to tokenism and wonder if it was released to simply check a box. That said, Alberta has actually done a better job than some other provinces. Ontario and Quebec’s COVID-19 public health websites don’t even have a specific guide for PWD. British Columbia does have a guide, but again it features spoiled information. Nevertheless, at least BC’s guide has included some accessible tools for PWD to navigate their website. 

What about accessibility? 

Advocacy groups such as the United Nations and Disability Alliance BC recommended that emergency information be accessible to PWD. However, barriers to accessing public health information can arise with a lack of accessible website navigational supports. The Disability Alliance BC expressed that emergency information must be updated as often as possible and that critical aspects be available via electronic text. Electronic text is used with screen reading software allowing people with vision loss or those with learning disabilities to hear a spoken translation of the information. Another tool is an embedded prerecorded video of a person doing sign language which can be helpful for those who have learning disabilities and or have hearing impairments. The outdated guide on the government of Alberta website contains none of the recommended navigational supports. Additionally, the guide lacks resources for PWD about how they can access financial or mental health supports. As a result, PWD who access the government’s COVID-19 guide may be left unsupported. 

Addressing COVID-19 information for PWD 

In Alberta, public health orders have been updated many times following the advent of COVID-19. Nonetheless, the reference guide for PWD has been left to rot. Simply providing a reference guide for PWD is not appropriate or beneficial if the guide is not up-to-date or accessible. Moving forward, COVID-19 strategies proposed by public health officials must begin to consider the unique barriers impacting PWD and take action to implement supports. To achieve this, public health policymakers should strip away generic information and adapt the guidelines to reflect an inclusive and assessable reference for PWD. A great place to start would be including the fact that a vaccine exists.  

***

About the author: Candace Parsons received an Honours B.Sc. degree in Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies from the University of Calgary. Throughout her undergraduate career, she worked as a Research Associate for the Cumming School of Medicine as well as a Recreation Therapy Assistant at Bethany Calgary. Candace is interested in exploring public social and health policy issues related to persons with disabilities as well as other marginalized populations across Canada. In her free time, she enjoys hiking in Canmore and Banff with her dog Gunther and husband Ryan.