Experiences of Organisations of (or That Serve) Persons with Disabilities during the COVID-19 Pandemic and National Lockdown Period in South Africa
Abstract
:1. Introduction
Background
2. Materials and Methods
3. Results
3.1. Difficulties in Keeping the Doors Open
3.1.1. Closure of Services
“several of our homes in KZN and Eastern Cape also have day care centres for children with physical disabilities services had to be closed down since the beginning of lock down, that portion of our services had to close down altogether, those children have had to go back to their families that has affected hundreds of children with disabilities”.(GP, CWD)
“After the President’s address to close schools we completely stopped”.(GP, PWD)
“That portion of our services [day care centres for children with physical disabilities] had to close down altogether”.(FS, PWD)
“… we cannot go to communities during the lockdown”.(WC, E)
“so when the centre is closed there is no place where they get food”.(GP, PWD)
“The caregiver must leave home in order to access food relief or medical access and kids are left unsupervised”.(WC, E)
“Normally our fundraising is in the form of events and because of social distancing and the lockdown we can’t do any of that”.(FS, PWD)
“the stimulation programmes are run as if we are in a main stream schools, lessons are offered in every subject”.(GP, PWD)
3.1.2. Losing Wages and Income
“Loss of income for staff and employees with disabilities in the protective workshop”.(anonymous survey participant)
“Risk of resignations as professional staff (social workers) seek alternative employment”.(anonymous survey participant)
3.2. Continued Care under Lockdown Restrictions
“we have residential homes for people with physical disabilities, and because they are residential homes those homes the services has not been put on hold, we could not send all our residents back to their families, the main services which is accommodation and care service have been continuing uninterrupted”.(FS, PWD)
“Also for ECDs in Phillipi [a township in Western Cape], we carried on with feeding scheme even though school has been closed”.(WC, CWD)
3.2.1. Incorporating Protective Measures in Care
“We have placed emphases on the use of PPEs”.(FS, PWD)
“Sometimes we are short of mask, sanitizers, aprons, etc.”.(GP, PWD)
“If we can get such things when we going to attend the kids, then we know we have safety gear all ready”.(GP, PWD)
“Educating blind people on social distancing and sanitizing—getting extra sanitizers for the PAs—re-educating the Deaf on social distancing. COVID-19 rules are contrary to their cultural norms—knowing (not knowing) which sanitisers are not harmful to those with albinism”.(FS, PWD)
3.2.2. Impact of Fake News
“Because that [fake news] increases stress. But is something that sometimes you cannot manage”.(WC, E)
“Like the [fake] news spread that somewhere they are giving away food, we had to advise our beneficiaries to be careful not to believe in everything they hear”.(WC, CWD)
3.3. Restructuring of Care
3.3.1. Adapting Conventional Ways
“What we doing now our social workers are calling clients, just to find out what the situation are at the moment”.(WC, E)
3.3.2. Technological Innovations: Tools for Continued Care
“I created a WhatsApp group for all the employees with disabilities, so that they could be updated”.(WC, E)
“We look at the video [of the baby being active] together as speech; physio and occupational therapist come up with the home programme, and send them back to them via WhatsApp, messages, in writing or in video clips”.(WC, CWD)
3.4. Government Systems and Policies
3.4.1. Inadequate Government Regulations and Guidelines
“[There is] confusion with regards to how much/long must one isolate, can our residents go out, can they not go out…how to manage of staff without infringing on the staff rights to health”.(FS, PWD)
“There have been issues amongst staff in terms of are they going to still be required to come to work if any one of the residents do test positive”.(FS, PWD)
“… on how information is shared and how people can access services”.(WC, CWD)
“It [lack of clear government guidelines] gives me a certain amount of anxiety”.(FS, PWD)
3.4.2. Government Relief Aid
“[They] clearly didn’t have the resources to process the applications that they received”.(FS, PWD)
“That 150 mill for all the NPOs in the country is nothing …it was not enough and have taken far, far too long”.(FS, PWD)
“Other agencies’ information, to check if everybody is legitimate, so you have to fill in many forms, that requires ID numbers”.(WC, E)
“we think the government is trying to help but the help doesn’t reach everybody because since we applied for the food parcels, we applied for nappies nothing has ever reached us up to this far”.(GP, PWD)
“I can tell that additional SASSA grant [helps]”.(FS, PWD)
“We feel as if we have been forgotten, we feel as if we are an afterthought”.(FS, PWD)
3.5. Reaching out to Offer and Receive Support
3.5.1. Stepping in to Provide Support for Stopped Government Programs
“We even taken back some of the babies whom were discharged from the government therapy service because those were stopped”.(WC, CWD)
“We were able to give some of the families monetary amount to help themselves with grocery, toiletries etc”.(WC, CWD)
3.5.2. Remote Support and Distributing Resources
“We have been trying to support the kids, like by going there, especially the ones who cannot bath themselves”.(GP, PWD)
“This [wearing masks and seeing children with disabilities at their homes] will make parents trust us and for our safety”.(GP, PWD)
3.5.3. External Support
“Because the NPOs are specialists, we know what’s going on in the communities and we know our clients, we will be able to render services”.(WC, E)
“At least it was a break through, in that type of communication”.(WC, E)
“We are literally sent out a message to our supporters and said we need money, and our supporters have been extremely generous”.(FS, PWD)
“We have a good relation with [pharmaceutical chain] and they have been very helpful with all our homes”.(FS, PWD)
“We think the government is trying to help but the help doesn’t reach everybody”.(GP, PWD)
4. Discussion
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- The government must prioritise supporting organisations of people with disabilities to ensure uninterrupted access to services at community levels and prioritise access to protective equipment.
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- Disability inclusion must be at the centre of all stages of COVID-19 response and recovery to ensure inclusive pandemic responses.
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- Input from people with disabilities and their representatives, through collaborations and partnerships, must be considered when designing measures, as this will ensure effectiveness and accountability.
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- There is a need to have targeted measures for such support networks/disability service providers such as considering short-term financial support for disability services.
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- The Disaster Management Act must specifically include people with disabilities.
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- It must be ensured that disability services are considered as essential work and exempted from curfews and other lockdown measures which affect service provision.
Limitations
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Themes | Sub-Themes |
---|---|
Difficulties in keeping doors open | Closure of services |
Losing wages and income | |
Continued care under lockdown restrictions | Incorporating protective measures in care |
Impact of fake news | |
Restructuring of care | Adapting conventional ways |
Technological innovation: Tools for continued care | |
Government systems and policies | Inadequate government regulations and guidelines |
Government relief aid | |
Reaching out to offer and receive support | Stepping in to provide support for terminated government programs |
Remote support and distributing resources | |
External support |
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Share and Cite
Hlongwane, N.; Ned, L.; McKinney, E.; McKinney, V.; Swartz, L. Experiences of Organisations of (or That Serve) Persons with Disabilities during the COVID-19 Pandemic and National Lockdown Period in South Africa. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 12641. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912641
Hlongwane N, Ned L, McKinney E, McKinney V, Swartz L. Experiences of Organisations of (or That Serve) Persons with Disabilities during the COVID-19 Pandemic and National Lockdown Period in South Africa. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(19):12641. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912641
Chicago/Turabian StyleHlongwane, Naomi, Lieketseng Ned, Emma McKinney, Vic McKinney, and Leslie Swartz. 2022. "Experiences of Organisations of (or That Serve) Persons with Disabilities during the COVID-19 Pandemic and National Lockdown Period in South Africa" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 19: 12641. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912641