Stop Using the Disabled Community to Promote COVID Misinformation

The further we get into this worldwide pandemic, the more tired most of us are getting. Collectively, most people are tired of the social distancing, wearing a mask any time we leave the house, the restrictions on where we can go and what we can do. I know there are people who contracted COVID-19 and are now living with serious physical and mental long-term effects. There are also those who have lost a loved one to the virus and probably couldn’t mourn that person in the way they wanted. This has been a tragic year. And the fabric of our communities is starting to tear under the stress.

There has been an increasing number of protests against public health measures. Online, people smear scientists and doctors as money-hungry and sellouts to vaccine manufacturers. People who follow the guidelines to reduce the spread of COVID-19 are mocked as “sheep.” It’s frustrating and makes it harder to be committed to taking all the necessary steps to protect ourselves and our community from this insidious virus.

But one of the most disgusting tactics of the anti-lockdown/anti-mask/COVID-19-denying bunch is the coopting of disability advocacy and suicide awareness. All of a sudden, there is a group of people raising the alarm about an increase in suicide rates, overdose rates and the problem of isolation for people with disabilities. They argue that public health measures are causing more harm than they prevent. Now, some may say that any increase in awareness is good and that we should just be happy with anyone being concerned for the disabled community. I disagree. Strongly.

As a disabled person, let me say this clearly — I am not a political prop. You cannot exploit my struggles and my story to further your message. As someone who has been actively working on advocacy for people with mental illness for seven years, I don’t remember a single protest before the pandemic that aimed to shed light on the problem of addiction or mental illness. I believe these people are simply using our hardship to promote their opinion without really caring about the people they claim to represent.

This message that the anti-lockdown/anti-mask/COVID-19-denying group is promoting is also very out of touch with the disabled community. There are so many people living with chronic illnesses and disabilities that have had to completely isolate themselves this past year to keep themselves safe from infection, often because there are people who refuse to do the very minimum – wear a mask in public and stay six feet away. While they chant and yell about ending isolation, their actions just prolong the time we have to spend at home.

There will be a time to judge the actions of our government, the decisions they made (or didn’t make) and the toll it took on society as a whole. However, it will be years before the scientific community can provide firm answers about which public health measures helped and which ones were unnecessary. For now, we have to go with the best information we have, which is that masks, social distancing, good hand hygiene and staying home as much as possible all help slow the spread of COVID-19. If you truly care about those struggling with disabilities in your community, follow public health measures and treat us as actual humans, not as an argument to support your political stance.