Friday 3 December is the International Day of People with Disabilities. The 2021 theme ‘Fighting for rights in the post-COVID era’ This year, International Day of People with Disabilities is being used to recognise that people who live with disabilities are among the most affected populations amid the COVID pandemic. Where marginalisation, discrimination, vulnerability and exploitation are every day factors for many people, the increased risk of poor outcomes have been magnified with the reduced access to routine health care and rehabilitation services, more pronounced social isolation, poorly tailored public health messaging, inadequately constructed mental health services, and a lack of emergency preparedness for people with special needs.
We call on domestic and international public health officials, political representatives, advocates, supporters, and every citizen in every community, to learn from the experiences of people living with disabilities during this pandemic, and push for more meaningful investments into the socioeconomic building blocks which will reduce the barriers faced by people with disabilities in every community on earth.
See the International Day of People with Disabilities website for more information.
Last year Sheffield Voices hosted two special events which were recorded and are available on our Youtube page
Simon Jarrett and Kathryn Littlewood in conversation about Simons new book, ‘Those they Called Idiots’ which looks back in history at how people with learning disabilities were treated during the eighteenth century by the medical professions and what lessons we may learn from this. You can watch a recording of the conversation here
Sheffield Voices group also held an ‘Open Door’ where we invited the public to come along to talk with us about our Human Rights and see some of the work we have been doing.
You can watch the session here
