People with disabilities left stranded during national lockdown in Uganda · Global Voices
Ugandan national wheelchair team practices on the court on October 24, 2013, Uganda. Photo via DfID on Flickr CC BY 2.0.
Nearly a month after Uganda enforced a national lockdown and curfew, 25-year-old <PERSON>, who is deaf and blind, was shot by a team of Local Defence Units in Agago District, in the northern region.
On April 30, during a strict curfew due to the coronavirus, the LDU officers tried to speak to <PERSON> as he was walking. But <PERSON> could not see or hear them and continued walking when the officers shot him in the leg. <PERSON> had to amputate his leg and now endures the burden of another layer of disability that could have been prevented.
But <PERSON> who has hearing and speech impairments did not. The 25-year-old resident of Mugila West Village in Agago District, was shot 5 times in the leg, by LDU personnel enforcing the 7pm to 6.30am curfew. https://t.co/4NtjWnndLz pic.twitter.com/8umM4H00Xy
— Kweeta (@KweetaUganda) May 11, 2020
<PERSON>'s injury and additional disability are directly linked to the government's disregard for people with disabilities in the execution of its national lockdown plan. About 16.5 percent of Ugandans are people with disabilities (PWDs).
It took substantial advocacy and lobbying around the shooting of <PERSON> to have adequate PWD representation on the government’s national COVID-19 taskforce through its risk communication committee.
The needs of marginalized people, especially those of persons with disabilities were conspicuously absent in President <PERSON>’s COVID-19 directives.
<PERSON>, who works for the National Union of Women with Disabilities of Uganda, told Global Voices:
One of our first interventions was for me to engage with our line ministry and to say that these directives are not inclusive of the special needs of persons with disabilities. We instantly began to get news of how the directives were impacting them [PWDs] negatively. 328
They had no information on what COVID is, how it is spread, who is COVID affecting, what the directives are about. People did not know about curfew. That is how the boy in the north gets shot. That is how the girl in the north gets beaten by LDUs.
<PERSON> and her colleagues’ advocacy paid off.
She joined the task force at its ninth meeting and promptly began a project to translate pandemic-related information into sign language. Sign language interpretation was incorporated into all official televised addresses on COVID-19.
While commendable, this progress was a little too late for some PWDs.
<PERSON> travels around in a wooden wheelchair in Arua District, Uganda, via COMBRID-Friends of Disability Facebook page, used with permission.
Dilemma
The ban on private and public transportation was essential to prevent the spread of COVID-19, but the decision was not inclusive of PWDs, excluding those with desperate needs for health care or food supplies.
While non-disabled people could easily walk to buy groceries, many people with disabilities made the difficult decision to drive a car or ride on a boda-boda or motorcycle taxi, out of necessity, at great risk to their personal safety.
<PERSON>, a visually impaired teacher and nongovernmental worker in the northwestern district of Arua, was harassed by soldiers for allegedly flouting social distancing measures while walking with his personal assistant.
<PERSON>, a woman with a physical disability in Kampala, the capital, was arrested and detained twice while driving to buy groceries. She told Global Voices:
The first time I was held at a roadblock for about 30 minutes. The second time, I was taken to Kabalagala police station. The District Police Commander expressed his remorse for how I was treated and after about an hour, I was escorted to buy my groceries.
The struggles of some PWDs exist at the intersection of class, gender, HIV/AIDS status and multiple disabilities or other power differentials, increasing their vulnerabilities.
The transport ban exposed some women with disabilities to sexual violence who could not escape their attackers. “Right now I have about five cases of women with disabilities who were raped because of this COVID lockdown,” <PERSON> told Global Voices.
People with albinism need unfettered mobility to access skin protection creams, skin cancer surgery and post-surgery care, said <PERSON>, chief executive officer of Women and Children with Albinism in Uganda. 803