The disproportionate burden of problems affecting persons with disabilities and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic
The Sars-Cov2 pandemic has disproportionately impacted persons with disabilities, affecting them in access to rights and participation support. The acknowledgement of the enjoyment of human rights by persons with disabilities, introduced by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is often not yet applied in Italy. Invisible to emergency systems, despite indications from the international community, discriminated against and stigmatized by associations such as SIAARTI which, in the presence of limited resources to fight against the coronavirus, proposed by medical triage not to help the elderly and persons with severe disabilities, severely affected by the lock down of services dedicated to them (inclusive school, rehabilitation activities, shortage of home services), these persons have seen a large number of deaths in the residences that should have protected them, but did not. To avoid the recurrence of these critical issues, the transformation of the welfare state towards objectives of inclusion, empowerment and full participation is proposed, strongly anchored in the communities, with the personalization of interventions, habilitation and support resilience, home support in one's living environment.