Author: Rebecca Daniel – PHD Student, Assisting Living and Learning (ALL) Institute, Department of Psychology, Maynooth University
Rebecca Daniel
The situation of persons with disabilities during the current war in Ukraine has been repeatedly described as a “crisis within a crisis” during the past number of months. This blog post aims to reflect on the multiple forms of discrimination that persons with disabilities face in times of conflict.
Approximately 15% of the worldwide population has a disability. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated that 13% of people in Ukraine, in need of humanitarian assistance in 2021, had a disability. In situations of war and conflict, these numbers can even increase, since many disabilities are caused or worsened by war (e.g. through war injuries, a lack of health care provisions, or post-traumatic stress disorders). Given this, it can be estimated that the numbers of persons with disabilities directly or indirectly affected by the war in Ukraine are even higher than those estimated above.
Author: Matthew McKenna, PhD Researcher at Maynooth University’s Assisting Living and Learning Institute (ALL Institute)
Matthew McKenna
The World Health Organisation (WHO) Department of Data and Analytics published a technical report in December of 2020 yielding data which highlights the need for increased global awareness of the importance of healthy ageing in the twenty-first century. The report found that global life expectancy increased by more than six years between 2000 and 2019; from 66.8 years in 2000 to 73.4 years in 2019. However, it was found that increased life expectancy did not entail a corresponding reduction in the number of years lived with a disability among older persons. In addition, the United Nations (UN) Department of Economic and Social Affairs estimates a 56 percent global increase, from 901 million to 1.4 billion, in the number of people aged 60 years or over in the 2015-2030 timeframe; this figure is predicted to rise to almost 2.1 billion by 2050 based on current data.
Human society must adapt to support and engage with older persons so that nobody is left behind in an older society. In that regard, the promotion of active, healthy, engaged and independent living for older persons above the age of 65 is key.
Authors: Shauna Louise Byrne, Sales Assistant, studying Sign Language and QQI Level 5 Medical Terminology & Kimberly Wright, Postgraduate LLM student Global Legal Studies
Shauna Louise Byrne (LHS) Kimberly Wright (RHS)
“My name is Shauna Louise, and I was diagnosed with profound hearing loss at the age of 2. I contracted Scarlet Fever and have since lost 100 per cent of my ability to hear high frequency sounds. Throughout childhood, my teenage years and continuing into adulthood, my only form of communication is lip-reading.
The pandemic has highlighted just how much I rely on lip-reading as a primary method of communication in addition to the struggle of those around me to accommodate me by removing their face masks. Although, many deemed this as high-risk and left me feeling extremely isolated in my social and work life, resulting in me feeling as though I was a burden to those around me.
Consequently, I feel no other choice but to remove myself from social gatherings while it is required to wear a mask in public. The risk of asking someone to remove their masks when speaking to me isn’t a responsibility I want to bear. This goes as far as saying that I will only engage with people on video call as I can see their lips and it is safer, thereby lessening my physical social interactions where possible.
I have no shame in being Deaf and I embrace it as much as I can. I recently purchased hearing aids which allows me to pick up background noises. Furthermore, it has allowed me to connect to my phone where I can video call with ease, listen to music and has even allowed me to connect to my laptop so I can achieve my dream of completing an online course. This would have not been made possible without such hearing assistive technologies. Nevertheless, it does not provide me with the ability to communicate with others.
I think more awareness needs to be echoed in terms of accommodating those who are Deaf and hard of hearing. For instance, cinemas have their hearing aid loop signs to help those who wear hearing aids. I think all establishments should adopt similar strategies to allow those who are Deaf to have access to different ways of communication. In addition, I strongly believe that sign language should be provided as an optional language alongside Spanish, French, German, and others. It gives the opportunity to enable everyone to engage in a form of communication between the hearing world and the Deaf world” –Shauna Louise Byrne.
Shauna’s experience has prompted me to reflect on the rights of persons with disabilities, and on the need to value their diversity.
