A surge in infection rate and the increasing death toll from coronavirus have revealed just how vulnerable our communities are to a global pandemic. Persons with disabilities are considered to be at a particularly high-risk during coronavirus crisis.
70 percent of persons with disabilities do not have access to formal employment in Mexico, they depend on social benefits or self-employment, reports El Sudcaliforniano
“For 18 years, I am in a wheelchair. My disability (spinal injury) was caused by crime in 2002. Now I am a musician and I dedicate myself to give violin workshops and classes, however, since the coronavirus contingency began, my income has decreased 90 percent. Some workshops that I would teach in the United States and Guadalajara have already been canceled, “Julio Santiago (46 years) relates to El Sol de México.
According to the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO), persons with disabilities are considered vulnerable groups to Covid-19 because some of them may have weak immune systems or medical history that complicate their health status when contract the virus.
More than two months after the first case of Covid-19 was registered in Mexico, social distancing has helped contain the virus, but it has also left a large part of the population without their livelihood.
A large group of people with disabilities are today debating between the decision to take care of their health or protect their source of income.
