Thread by @DrOliverLewis, What about employment of people with disabilities in the COVID-19 response? [...]

What about employment of people with disabilities in the COVID-19 response?

The International Labour Organization has drummed up “5 key points”. @ILO calls for “social justice, effective inclusion, equality of opportunities and decent work”. (thread) https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/disability-and-work/WCMS_741287/lang--en/index.htm

Persons with disabilities in the COVID-19 response

The COVID-19 crisis is new. It is requiring us all to act, interact and communicate in different ways than we are used to. However, the social inequalities exacerbating COVID-19’s impact on persons...

https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/disability-and-work/WCMS_741287/lang--en/index.htm

Grounding its guidance in the right to equality, the @ILO says that “work-from-home policies must ensure that workers with disabilities have appropriate adjustments at home” (see also CRPD Arts. 2 & 5: discrimination includes failure to provide reasonable accommodation)

Information on telework arrangements must be accessible, “including through the use of sign language, subtitles and accessible websites”

(see Art.9 CRPD on accessibility)

Information on telework arrangements must be accessible, “including through the use of sign language, subtitles and accessible websites” (see Art.9 CRPD on accessibility)

Governments should “cover the extra costs related to disability, which may increase due to the impact of the crisis and lead to a disruption of their support system” (See Art.28 CRPD: adequate standard of living, incl food, clothing and housing)

To ensure employment rights, there should be a “multiplicity of views - from governments, workers’ and employers’ organizations and organizations of persons with disabilities" because diversity "brings a multiplicity of solutions.”

This is consistent with Art.4(3) CRPD which sets out the state obligation to "closely consult and actively involve" (a really action-packed duty!) people with disabilities and their organisations in developing and implementing laws and policies that affect them

The @ILO's 5th point is the most interesting

It's a challenge for us to re-frame the narrative. People with disabilities should be “co-creators of COVID-19 responses, as champions and users, not as victims”. I'm impressed that a UN agency is making this point

The @ILO's 5th point is the most interesting It's a challenge for us to re-frame the narrative. People with disabilities should be “co-creators of COVID-19 responses, as champions and users, not as victims”. I'm impressed that a UN agency is making this point

The @ILO’s advice is grounded in Article 27 of the CRPD which requires states to take concrete steps to “safeguard and promote the realization of the right to work” of people with disabilities https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities/article-27-work-and-employment.html

As you may by now have expected, I’ve updated my blog on "Disability, coronavirus and international human rights"

https://insights.doughtystreet.co.uk/post/102g27s/disability-coronavirus-and-international-human-rights

Disability, coronavirus and international human rights

This is a summary of guidance from international human rights bodies in relation to the protection of the rights of people with disabilities in the coro...

https://insights.doughtystreet.co.uk/post/102g27s/disability-coronavirus-and-international-human-rights

Finally