Report transcript in: Banane's story - Narratives of the Global Impact of COVID-19

Please Report the Errrors?

mhm.

So thank you for agreeing to take part in this.

Would you tell me a little bit about yourself?

Yes, of course.

I'm a disabled person.

I have muscular dystrophy since birth,

and I have a heart failure condition as well.

I'm on the wheelchair.

I am also on direct payment. So I'm an employer who employs a personal assistant.

Um, I have experience of a disability as well as

my, uh, my sister and my late sister, who died. She was also disabled.

Uh, and I have got friends who are disabled.

Uh, I personally, uh,

understand the different obstacles that disabled people face.

I face it on day to day life.

And also, uh, I, uh, work, uh, at the disability rights UK and the person budgets.

Uh, advisor.

And I deal with in, uh, queries on the helpline and also, uh, in in my email as well.

Thank thank you for that.

I was just wondering if you would share with me.

What was your experience?

Um, personally, um, and and you can bring in your work as well of the pandemic.

So, um,

what impact did the covid pandemic and lockdowns

have on the lives of disabled people.

OK,

so the, uh the impact is obviously quite immense on various levels,

depending on the type of every disabled person, their circumstances,

and also because it's

the initiate was a fear which, actually it was shared by

disabled and non disabled people.

It's something new that no one has came across. We don't

we as disabled people, we didn't know what the future is like,

uh, and how long it will last.

And, uh, the the the fear

was because of the virus and because it was spreading,

uh, people, uh, saw that they will die.

And there will be also shortage of food as well. Uh, because, uh

uh, I personally, when

I first heard with the pandemic, uh, I didn't take it that serious, but then

the with the media and talking about it and then people and my p a s.

And they they advised me to do more shopping.

Uh, and I did obviously, like anyone else I did buy.

But I only bought just for maybe the supplier of a month.

Uh, but then, uh, it is a fear that actually

was the initial thing.

The, uh Then when things worsen.

We were also worried in terms of finance whether the local authority will still

continue to fund and finance the our support or whether it will stop,

uh, whether the, uh, pandemic, uh, will have a very,

um,

uh, immense impact on the economy, which means less money.

Uh, whether, uh,

I wasn't sure whether I will still continue with the r UK whether the r UK will survive

the pandemic.

And of course, uh, people who called the helpline

they were not sure whether

the government will still continue to pay the the benefits.

Uh, and there was fear of starvation whether we are going to, you know,

to be starving, et cetera, et cetera.

But that that

was the the the the the initial fear. Yeah,

uh, thank you for Shanette. It really resonates with, um my own experience.

So I'm wondering how

you, um,

organised kind of the things that you need to you talked about,

like shopping and stuff.

So, as a disabled person,

how did you make sense of what you needed to do and organise your life in a pandemic?

Yes.

So, um,

I knew that I'm going to be stuck at home

and I will not be able to go out.

So I thought, Let me deal with the important thing.

Uh, if I actually, uh, went to the bank, I withdraw some cash

because I didn't know whether I will go out with again in the next few months.

So I withdrew.

Uh, a substantial amount of money, almost £2000.

And, uh, that's the first thing Secondly, I bought,

uh, whatever. I can,

uh, survive on dry, uh, beans, uh, pulses, rice.

And I know that I couldn't find any

from the market. There were no eggs. There was no milk ketch.

And then my friend told me of cost and of a shop called, uh I think it was

like a wholesale thing.

We went there.

We bought, like, two big packets of rice, basically the main sink.

So this is how I did it. And then,

uh, also because of my daughter. Because of my parents as well.

My daughter was wondering, Is she going to continue with her education?

Is the school going to stop what's going to happen?

Even the schools were not sure whether, um how how would they continue?

Uh, the

the Children

Uh, and, uh, there was a fear of people being unemployed.

And I was also concerned whether I'm going to be unemployed as well.

Um,

and whether I will lose my job. Uh, so same thing.

Even the family, you know, family members, et cetera. So I I did I I withdraw cash.

I, uh, wanted to make sure that I have enough clothes for the winter.

Uh, and, uh

uh,

I think this is all amazing. And of course, I went to, uh to the, uh, to different.

I had called the GP

to find out what's going to happen with the checkup and all this and he himself.

He wasn't sure what's going to happen.

Um, so I think it was because it was new for everyone.

We were not sure we were all confused.

Really interesting. Like how you planned.

Um,

So you talked about having, like, daily support from P. A s?

what changed? Like, you know, how did you have people coming into your home?

Do you think that having a disability made things more complicated or

Yes, Yes, yes, yes. OK, so, um,

obviously, uh, I was expecting some visitors from abroad, but everything changed.

All the travel plans change,

Uh, because of the government guidance, saying that

we should social distancing. And we should not,

uh, get anyone in the house except essential workers

now essential workers.

At the beginning, we were not sure what it referred to,

because clearly the government was only focusing on the, uh,

talk about NHS and doctors.

Even the p A s

uh, the P a asked me

whether they will continue. They will have to come.

Uh, they will have to leave the because some of them have got Children.

Uh, and because of the self isolating,

you know, if they were also not sure. And I told them, you know, that I need help.

And because of my health,

I because of my health, I need, uh, personal care.

I need, uh, obviously, uh, to prepare the food, the meals. I said to them

that even if I have to pay extra from my my own money,

my own earnings from work and from my, uh, Pip,

I will, uh I will pay you more,

but I do need your help.

Because I personally myself,

I wasn't sure whether the local authority would still continue

to make the the the monthly payment. Obviously, after probably a month or two.

Then the picture became clearer that the government issued guidance.

Uh, the I UK was also involved in that,

and, uh, the the government made,

uh, clear. Um

uh, you know, uh, clarified that that PS are essential workers and they need to come,

uh, and they don't have to go through the full scheme or the job retention scheme

unless it is necessary.

However, if they self isolate, they can still be paid by the direct payment.

But at the same time, the local authority again,

uh, give guidance on people.

Uh, so that has helped the fact that the I I, uh, during that period,

I still managed to get my, uh, p A s coming to my house helping me

and also using the some of the money of my direct payment to pay them for taxes,

Taxi journeys, because public transport, as you know, is hard.

Wasn't, uh, you know wasn't recommended.

Did you decide to do that yourself? Or did you have any support from

social care to make those kind of decisions?

OK, it was very, very difficult.

Honestly, extremely difficult to get hold of to get hold of social services.

Uh, that's one of the, uh, problem that I face and other face.

Um,

so I actually relied on, uh, the, uh the guidance delivered by the government.

And also, I asked my colleagues at work.

We we had online staff meetings and we spoke about it.

As you know, some of my colleagues are disabled, and they also, uh,

get support from P.

A s. And that has helped.

It helped because of my work. If I wasn't working for the

UK,

I'm sure a lot of the information I wouldn't know about

thank you really important.

Um, contribution. So I'm wondering about the guidance.

Do you think that it was easy to understand? And

do you think it came at the right time for you?

Yes. OK, now, the government was a little bit late,

and that's why

uh, it has put a lot of strain and emotional strain on disabled people.

Uh, especially those who have mental issues.

Those who have mental issues suffer. I think they suffered the most.

Some had suicidal thoughts.

The the the thought that

the social element, you know, where a lot of people who, uh,

who are have mental issues.

They rely on socialising

and because the socialising element

well is not there because of the of the coronavirus

they had all those suicidal thoughts

and they call the helpline. They say, I feel suicidal.

Uh, there's no p a. There's no support.

What can I do?

And we will we will. We?

I mean, initially,

I, um

because I know with the care act,

we, uh the the direct payment is meant to be used flexibly.

I did say to them that the the direct payment can be used flexibly

and in an innovative way, because the main focus is that, uh,

the outcomes that matter to the other person.

Uh, but again, that was my own, uh, you know, personal interpretation.

Um, until I was 100% sure.

And certain of the fact that, uh,

direct payment couldn't be used flexibly following the government guidance.

And, uh, and the and the people can use, for example, they can buy, uh, like, uh,

you know, devices.

Uh,

which is basically the the only means of communication

with the outside world for some of disabled people.

Then I give it. I advise them accordingly.

Uh, but I think the government was a little bit late

in giving that kind of of, uh, you know,

uh, uh,

that kind of, uh, guidance.

Yes. Thank you. Thank you for Shana.

So I was just wondering about you.

You talked about those with mental health challenges

and the impact of mental health. And I'm wondering, like, about

sort of different

impairment groups, maybe disabilities, sort of blind people,

deaf people and all the additional barriers.

How, like, what was going on for,

you know, people from those communities in relation to covid, you know?

Yeah.

Uh, I've got,

uh, a neighbour, actually. Two neighbours,

or or actually a a brother and and and, uh,

and his sister, who are deaf in my own building.

Uh, the parents support them,

and they were

initially didn't understand what's going on

because of their disability.

And the parents tried to explain,

uh,

and they they they are young. They finished their university

and they were forced to find jobs.

Obviously, they could not find any job, so it was a huge challenge, and, uh,

especially

one of them was actually

learning the, uh, the driving how to drive, and it all stopped.

So it was a huge, you know,

it it it had impacted emotion and psychologically on both of them.

Uh, the the the the girl used to go for coffee and socialise with some of her friends.

She couldn't do it anymore.

The, uh, and she couldn't find work, and her brother

could not continue with his training with the driving licence. It all stopped.

And, uh, and it, uh, it it it basically it affected them. But I I spoke.

I spoke to them, Uh, because, you know, we as as community, we support each other, Uh,

you know, in order to,

uh,

alleviate the suffering of disabled people as well.

Even sometimes when we are worried, we try to you know, myself as an adviser, I try to,

you know,

give some assurance to other disabled people that

everything will go smoothly despite the challenges.

Uh, and we need to move on. Uh

uh, wi wi with life. Uh, but, uh, I must say that,

uh,

you know, like, uh,

I think one of the inquire on the help line,

you know, with the, uh, portability, uh, the

portability

of care when you move from one local authority to another.

And, uh, that, uh, Conti continuity element in the in the care act

was actually not happen in real life. Uh, because of the pandemic.

And some people changed their plan to move to another local authority

and other people who moved to another local authority, unfortunately,

couldn't get the support,

Uh, until they battled, they tried to call, uh, social services.

And probably after several weeks, they managed to get something.

But again, the assessment was only on the over the phone or online.

And

and these things obviously will be a barrier to certain groups of people.

So I'm interested about your own experience now.

So, did anybody from Social Services call you to see if you were doing OK?

No,

not at all.

Not at all. In fact, no,

Uh, the

the, uh, I have an adjustable electric bed,

which was, um,

uh, recommended by the, uh, o t. Occupation therapist.

Uh, and, uh,

there was an issue with the mattress,

and I asked I called MediQuip

who provide the, uh, the the equipment.

And I said, can you please change the mattress to a better one?

uh and they said, Oh,

you need to go through the social services and it's very hard to get it.

It may take months and months

for that,

Uh, so we can't change it to another type.

We can replace it but not change it,

because it's very difficult now,

uh, because of the pandemic.

So I just said to them, OK, replace it

with the same type.

Um,

that's, uh, that's that's that's about it.

The only thing I must say that was uh

was good from the local authorities

is after, I would say after probably four or five months.

Um, I received a letter from the local authority,

uh, stating that I can get P PE from them.

And I just need to call the number,

uh, the relevant number to get it. Which, which I did.

I called the number and I received, uh, different boxes of gloves and, uh, you know,

uh, P PE equipment.

That was that was a good thing. Apart from that,

no, there was, uh

uh, actually, maybe a year on.

I they are. They told me I will. It's time to

do an assessment, which, actually, it wasn't time. It

the time was actually a few months before, but they were late.

So we did it. We did it online.

Uh, sorry. Not online over the phone,

which which I was happy about rather than face to face. Uh,

in fact,

uh, even a lot of disabled people on the phone,

they they were happy that their assessment is just over the phone.

Some of them are the fear

have face to face

meeting with local. So with the social worker,

it's interesting because I picked up, um,

that

that fear element. And so, like,

when you were telling people about

the how they could use their direct payments,

Did people believe you or, like, people were still too scared like I did people?

That's a good question. Thank you.

No, they said,

but the social work is so we can only use it for that specific purpose.

I said no, no, you can still use it flexibly, even till now.

Uh, they say,

but the social services dictate on us that we can only use it for that purpose.

I said no.

Uh, some disabled people think that it's only to pay the wages of P A.

They don't know that

a direct payment can be used flexibly and to purchase different services,

not necessarily from the P A s from P A s or even from care agencies.

And can I take you back to the idea of not knowing you had a job? So,

um, there's a couple of things I wanted to go back to.

Uh, you You work for a user led organisation? Disabled people's organisation.

Um,

lots of organisations didn't know if they were

going to survive because of the pandemic.

Um,

do you think there was enough information

and support for disabled employees to understand what

you know, working from home? What kind of a covid thing

I personally is

the good about? You know, Cameron, He's our, um

Yeah.

So, Cameron,

uh uh, uh,

I I think it was

if I'm not mistaken, probably seven months before the pandemic

or even more, I can't remember. Exactly.

um,

he actually

he actually spoke about

people having a choice

to work from home.

And he actually, uh,

uh purchased a number of laptops which he gave to each individual.

So he was actually at the front of it even before the pandemic

and that issue was something new, because for I, I was working for N c A. L before

we merged. Since twe 2, 2007.

And we we always worked for at at the, you know, the office, um,

to work from home was a good opportunity.

Uh, not to miss. Uh uh, you know, uh uh, not to miss, uh, important.

uh, how can I say it?

Uh, you know, sometimes when you go to the office,

and sometimes you're not well and you're tired or

because of transport or because of the strike,

you are stuck at home.

But having a laptop and having a choice to to work from home.

Even if you you have a little bit of headache, you can still do your work,

which is actually very good.

And it actually helped, uh, others,

some of my colleagues because they were travelling, uh, far.

And it helped me as well to organise my life better,

uh, because my muscles, sometimes I have fatigue.

Uh, I get tired by the time I reach, uh, the office. I'm exhausted.

Uh, so it, uh,

the the good thing is that disability rights UK actually gave

us a choice to work from home before the pandemic,

which was very good.

And for people that

didn't know, You know, a lot of people didn't know what kind of how working

in a pandemic and, you know, disabled people particularly.

Do you think there were some challenges that people

faced around work and the pandemic as disabled people?

Yes. Yes, yes, that's right. That's right.

Uh, true. The,

uh the, um

ok with, for example, um,

with work,

period,

there's a type of work that you have to do it

obviously from the office, especially if you have to do to send letters

by post

and you have the material at the office.

And

I I think

if I, uh if I recall,

uh, there are people who were obviously worried

in terms of

how would they do the work if they can't go to office

and whether the p a. Because for for a disabled person

to go to the office, they always need support in the morning for personal care.

So if the p A

is unwell or is self isolating,

uh,

how will they go to the

How will they get the support that they need,

so, uh, because disabled people need to plan beforehand. So, uh, yes.

Uh, that was one thing.

The other thing is, I think there was just a few

who actually left work.

Uh, they, uh they said they can't take it.

Uh, they can't continue.

They feel it's too overwhelming.

The the the the the the circumstances that were surrounding

the pandemic and all the negative things. It was too much for them,

and they they basically just stopped working.

So what did you do for like that?

Five or six. How did you get P PE in the beginning? Like

you? Because you said that you got this phone number

that

good. Good.

The p PE.

I used to buy it from the pharmacy.

Uh, and that was,

uh What?

I also advised people before the the the the

guidance prior to the guts of the government.

Uh, people wondered where would they get the p PE?

And, uh uh, So we said, uh, you know, like, Amazon or, um, local supermarkets

or, you know, promises. However, there was a time when there wasn't any.

There was no p PE at all,

and people were stuck and some p a s didn't go to work because

they need obviously to They need to to offer safe care and support.

If there's no safe care and support, they can't deliver the,

you know, the,

uh uh and and And, um,

I forgot to mention

that one of my peer had also the

the, uh, the covid.

And, uh, she couldn't come.

So which meant that

I had to tell the other p A to work more.

Uh, but I must say that I also relied on the support

from my husband

and from my daughter.

So there are p A s,

uh, who even didn't go to.

Some of my friends and my friends have had to get the support from family members.

And it was later on when we, uh when we we, we, we,

we we When we read the guardian of the of the government

that, uh, family members can be paid as p a.

Uh, but we they needed to liaise with the local authority.

That must have been really difficult.

If it was hard to get hold of the local authority to get Yes, Yes. No, no, that's true.

It's hard. It was It was

And this. See, um, I wanted to now, like, explore with you around. Did you shield?

Like what? What impact? What was different about, like, covid and the shielding?

Because a lot of people have told me

shielding

was, like, really impossible for them as

they weren't able to do the things that were asked of them, like,

live independently and not see other people.

Do you know, do you have any views or experience on the shielding experience?

Yes,

personally.

Oh,

the first one, like

it came. It came as a positive thing, Not a negative thing.

So, um, and I I don't go out much during the winter either.

Um,

but

with, uh, you know, when you do a, uh,

when you ask for delivery of food comes from Marcus,

uh, online. It was difficult. Uh, there was a huge, uh, list,

uh, until the the supermarkets,

uh, again, I think it was. It took probably three months.

They came up with that, uh, scheme of, uh

uh, you know, having that slots,

uh, specific for vulnerable people and old people.

Uh, and some supermarkets also,

uh, had the morning slots as well.

Uh, I can't remember exactly. But yes, A a It was,

uh uh, Yes, that's right. That's right. I because I

I I did, Um

I did some shopping online. Um,

So, uh, yes.

the what, actually,

uh, upset me the most is that I couldn't

visit my sisters.

My two sisters who are disabled,

Uh,

one of them. Unfortunately, she passed away

in August 2020.

Uh,

so there was a number of many, many months.

I couldn't see her. She couldn't see me.

Although we spoke on the phone and on WhatsApp.

Uh, but at least I'm I'm glad that I have seen her probably a month before her death.

And I was at her house one day before her death.

So I missed obviously my sister during that time

and my other sister, who has learning difficulties,

she's living in a in a self. Uh

uh, you know, it's, uh what's it called? Supported living accommodation.

Uh, she used to come with her p a twice a week.

And,

uh, unfortunately, the whole time of the pandemic. She couldn't come,

and even my late sister could not see my other sister.

Yeah.

I'm so sorry. That was your experience.

So that's my experience. But I know of others.

Uh, like my my one of my friend.

She used to get help a lot from her mother,

and, uh, and she used to visit her mother. She could not visit her mother at all.

And that that was upsetting,

uh, in

an in that. Yeah,

but I personally being at home for me, I like home.

I'm a person who is family orientated,

and, uh, the fact that,

uh, my daughter was studying at home,

it actually saved a lot of time travelling, et cetera.

And you know, I don't know whether you have Children, but it's so difficult to wake up

for school.

least there were some positives for you in during the pandemic.

Um, can I ask you about So what?

Oh, yes. And there's other things. Sorry. Sorry. It's hard to interrupt you.

I I just remember the the main because I'm a Muslim, so I couldn't go to the mosque.

Uh, I I I I normally, I pray every day five times, but, uh, to, uh, I miss the community.

So not just a family.

The community as well.

So the community and being in the community going out with, uh,

the the the the sisters I know from the community or praying together.

The congregational prayer.

Uh, that's all I missed. That's all I missed. Even my husband, he just prayed at home.

Even Fridays as well. Yeah.

Thank you. Even funerals. Some people died. Some of them died during the pandemic.

And no one could.

No one could receive the you could do the the funeral.

Uh, and also I I, uh, lost my good neighbour. I had a very good neighbour next door.

I lost her as well.

I'm so sorry. Like for all of your bereavements and

must have been very difficult.

Yes, yes, but

I know there are people who lost more members of their family,

and so this.

So this kind of loss and impact of covid Do

you think it's had an impact on your mental health?

Uh, to be honest, as ha,

there was the sadness and the grief, but I can't say it's deep

because I'm a believer.

Uh uh. I'm a believer, and I be I have faith,

and it's faith that keeps me going on,

But, uh, there was grief. There was UPSETNESS. And, uh, my parents as well were upset

by the death of my sister. We were very close. She was also safe.

She's just one year difference between me and her.

So, uh, losing my very good sister. It

had an impact? Yes,

on mental health. No, no,

no. I kept going. Yes.

I'm so glad that your faith has given you comfort. So can I ask a question?

And this might be

So, um, a lot of people

watch the news, and a lot of people were really upset with

the way that things happened in the world and that you've said that you

didn't see your your family and this was really difficult.

How did it make you feel knowing that

in the world people were still not following the rules and people were still kind of

behaving in in different ways, and yeah,

uh,

So I I lost you the last

I was wondering, Like you said, you said something about the news and how people, uh,

and I didn't catch.

So I was thinking when you were talking that,

um you've making some really big sacrifices not to see your sister and loved ones and

there were a lot of people not following the rules.

How did it make you feel like knowing that?

Ah, yes, yes, yes,

yes, of course.

Of course, there were people not following the rules,

and there were people who were against that against injection as well.

Uh, which, Uh, I know there's a choice, but at the same time,

you are putting yourself and others at risk as well.

So not following the rules, Even with the politicians not following the the rules,

they put the rules and then they don't follow it.

Uh, it's, uh it's very it's

not a It's not a good feeling, because you feel that, uh, you know,

the the rules should be followed by everyone.

Uh, and, uh, it is for the good, the good of the community

of everyone.

So, yes, it is. It makes you angry as well. Yes.

It makes you angry. Yeah. And because

the the the disease actually spread more.

My husband is indian originally,

uh, from Kolkata,

and, uh, he told me that initially indians were not following the rules at all,

which actually made

the disease spread even more.

And as you follow the news uh, a lot of Indians have died a lot,

and some of my husband's friends have died as well.

He lost some of his friends, so

So And I come from Egypt, and I know some people in in Egypt

they died because they didn't follow the rules. Uh, but yes, it is upsetting.

They're putting everyone at risk, including disabled people.

And there are disabled people who died because the the virus has spread.

But I must say, it's hard

that,

uh, on one hand,

I would read because it's important to keep an update on what's happening.

But at the same time,

I deliberately I would try to avoid sometimes the news.

And this is a case of not only my case, I've heard it also from some P A s

who said to me

they don't want to hear the news anymore because it can be so upsetting.

It's like they feel that every that it's the end of the world.

They don't want to hear it.

Yeah, I I that really,

um that that's where I got to in my kind of like

the news was too much.

So I wanted to ask you about what do you think we have learned

from the covid pandemic and lockdowns as a society?

OK,

uh, I believe that being together supporting one another,

it's very, very important is vital

and communities supporting each other.

Uh, the I the the the good thing that what happened in the pandemic, uh,

has actually made people supporting each other,

uh, community where even the mosque, even community centres,

they actually give food, provided food for the vulnerable.

And my parents received, uh, food every week. Uh, because they are obviously old.

Uh, so that sense of you know, that community It's very, very good.

Um, that's the first thing. Secondly, though, it is important to be positive

because we in life there are so many obstacles.

And now, for example, it's so gloomy. I mean, now I The way I see it

is actually worse than what

happened in the virus or during the time of virus,

because now we have we're faced with economic crisis.

Uh, with, uh, it's a global thing.

Uh, with the war

and, uh, it it there's that,

uh, un

uncertainty.

So it is importantly, positive, because if we are not positive,

we will just uh, give in and we'll just

you know, I mean, we'll just like, how can I say it?

Uh, we we If we lose hope in life, then

we can't We can't manage.

It's going

to affect us mentally.

And it is important

to to keep going on

to keep going. Yes.

Yeah.

So and

And also and also, yeah, you know where it hard.

You know, when you overcome an obstacle,

it's It makes you feel good that

although this this

there are, uh, there are obstacles. You are overcoming it.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Um, and you

Resilience. Resilience. Yeah, and and this question probably speaks to this. So

there's lots of talk about a post pandemic world

or life after covid. Whatever you want to call it.

What does that feeling look like to you as a disabled person or disabled people?

You said there's a

Sorry. Could you repeat it again?

So there's lots of talk about a post pandemic world or life after covid.

What does that look like? Um, to you, as a disabled person or disabled people.

What does that feeling look like?

They're moving. There's another company that are coming on

there sometimes

Don't worry.

This is another one coming again or

something in in the on those slides, like cholera. Do you call it

in English? Sorry. Yeah. Because sometimes I mean, I follow the news

because, well, it it's it's called Cho

in English. That's right.

And Ebola as well. Yeah. OK, so, uh,

when you hear something happen in another country, sometimes you say, Oh,

it's good.

It may come also

To the UK all the pandemic can

come again. Uh, but, uh,

I think, um

I think,

uh,

I think we are more,

I would say,

because we have learned

previously,

I think we are more, uh,

we are stronger.

We are stronger because we had that experience.

We feel stronger and that if there's another pandemic

that

we feel that we are again going to overcome it,

uh, with good planning,

uh, being positive, uh, being together as a community,

we can overcome it again. So we we we we became

We are stronger than before,

that's really great to hear. Uh, so this might come across like So Do you think

that as a disabled person,

if something like that happens again,

that

you would get the support that you needed. Do you think that we're in a space now?

We've learned all of those lessons.

Disabled people will get the support from social services,

Get the support from the government.

What do you think?

Um,

I think social services.

They always, uh they are more concerned about spending money

more than the well-being of disabled people,

which is sad,

but this is all the perception.

I've had it

from. Social services.

Uh,

they will always say, Oh, it's too much. Your care package is is a lot.

Uh, the other. You should be grateful, uh, to have it.

Um, they actually want to keep and retain the money

rather than than giving the money

to disabled people.

Their approach, their attitude

is disempowering disabled people.

And, uh,

because I you see, they are not in our place.

They are not in our, uh they don't go through our own circumstances.

They look at from a financial perspective

rather than OK, I need to other than,

uh, focusing on what

the disabled want

to achieve. Uh, why it's important for disabled person.

So they I think they always think from

a from a, uh, a money. A monetary perspective, unfortunately,

thank you.

So my final question is like, what messages would you want?

The covid inquiry to hear about the experience

of deaf and disabled people during the pandemic.

So are there messages you'd like to share?

Mhm

that

if disabled people are going through obstacles,

they are. I I mean, of course, they are human beings. They can go through different,

you know, phases of life. But they are also strong,

and they want to remain independent.

And they want to manage their own life. Uh, for

not just for their own interests, but for the interest of the community as well.

So the disabled person also cares for others, not just for himself, but for others.

And it's important

that he or she is included

that she and or he participate in the mainstream society.

And, uh and, uh and, uh,

they have a lot to offer.

Despite their disability,

they still have a lot to offer.

Uh, I've got a friend of mine who, uh, who is Egyptian.

And she sometimes when she was in Egypt,

she said, sometimes she goes through a lot of difficult times,

but the good thing is, that. She said she has a neighbour

who is bedridden, completely disabled.

Uh, whose name is Ahmed.

She said she always goes to Ahmed

to get that

inner strength

when she feels down.

Although he's bedridden,

he's always smiling,

so that smile means a lot. It can change people's life.

Thank you for sharing that.

Do you have anything else you wanted to share to

the covid inquiry in the pan about the pandemic?

Um,

it's a difficult

question.

The sharing the,

I don't know. Uh,

I mean, there there's a lot of turbulent moment we all go through.

Uh,

but, uh,

the strength comes from the from the inner from the inside.

Uh, and, uh, it's important to be strong and

confident,

uh,

and

and and having a network

of support, uh,

so that you keep going.

Mm.

Thank you.

Um, that's a really lovely place to stop.

So I'm gonna stop the recording, if that's OK.

Yeah, of course. Of course.

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Author

streetreporter

Post date

18/04/2023