DISABILITY COMMUNITY SUFFERED DISPROPORTIONATELY DURING COVID-19
HARRISBURG, Pa., Aug. 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As difficult as the COVID-19 health-care crisis has been on everyone, the impact of this pandemic has been staggering on individuals with disabilities and their families, especially those living in rural areas and those belonging to racial and ethnic minorities, according to a new report from The Arc of Pennsylvania.
- That didn't happen here," said Sherri Landis, Executive Director of The Arc of Pennsylvania, the state's leading advocacy organization promoting the human rights of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
- Having now identified issues that the disability community faced, the workgroups will turn their attention to crafting recommendations for the department to address health disparities.
- Among the biggest issues that participants reported:
Barriers to accessible information (braille, plain language, multicultural information, etc.). - Participants included people with lived experience of a disability, caretakers, and family members of those with a disability, and professionals in support fields.