It’s been five years since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many of us still have strong memories of stay-at-home orders, the sudden loss of lives and liberties, and the dramatic global shifts of that time. For persons with disabilities, the pandemic protocols led to a surprisingly rapid loss of gains they had won and the lack of disability inclusion in crisis responses contributed to sudden and significant spikes in human rights abuses and neglect.

A handful of months into the pandemic, many disability activists found themselves in a familiar place: they bore the heavy burden of navigating additional barriers while also being the only ones calling for responses that responded to the needs and rights of persons with disabilities. This was particularly true for women with disabilities, who far too often have the role of primary caregiver added to their list of responsibilities.

At the same time, the ongoing struggle amongst policymakers, educators, health officials, and so many others to ‘leave no one behind’ became more acute during the pandemic. As decision-makers turned to persons with disabilities, disability rights activists were ready to give solutions for disability-inclusive responses.

Amongst the grave and fatal challenges of COVID-19, decision-makers began to realise that people with disabilities truly are the best experts to consult on disability inclusion. The solutions disability activists provided turned out to be critical lessons learned from the pandemic that can be applied to both navigating polycrises and everyday life.

Centering Marginalized Communities When Navigating Polycrises, Isolation, and Injustice

Persons with disabilities live in a world of varying degrees of isolation. Society has been built with inherent barriers that do not enable all people to participate equally. People are excluded and discriminated against by the structures around them, not by the inherent nature of their minds or bodies.

As lessons from previous crises inform the way forward, our path cannot be deterred by quickly disappearing gains.

With mandated distancing, much of the world had a taste of the hugely negative impacts of isolation that persons with disabilities face daily. This daily isolation means that people with disabilities – like many other marginalised people – have to create communities where self-care is a part of navigating the long-haul struggle.

Read the full article about navigating polycrises by Melanie Kawano-Chiu and Dwi Ariyani at Alliance Magazine.