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Rachel Sheehan
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March 28, 2020
What Happens When a 5-Year-Old in ICE Detention Is Considered a Coronavirus Risk
People in ICE (US's Immigration and Customs Enforcement) detention centers are unable to social distance, and there is also not much transparency about what goes on inside them with regard to the safety of the people incarcerated. This article by Fernanda Echavarri describes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people incarcerated in ICE detention centers, in particular the case of a five year old girl incarcerated in Pennsylvania. Berks Family Residential Center, which ‘has been criticized for its unsafe and unsanitary conditions and for the lack of proper medical care,’ was detaining 39 people, or 14 families with children as young as six months old as of March 28th, and had not released them despite complaints. -
March 30, 2020
Medical neglect in psychiatric institutions
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, people in nursing homes, psychiatric institutions, prisons, and other group settings are trapped without the ability to protect themselves by practicing social distancing from others, and their health is at risk from those bringing the virus in from outside. Zoe Gross, Director of Operations at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, criticizes a Spokesman-Review article written by Martha Bellisle. The article highlights the infection risk to workers at a psychiatric institution, but does not discuss the safety of patients as a priority, portraying them not as people in need of protection, but as ‘occupational hazards’ to the people whose safety matters more. -
April 11, 2020
‘Underlying health condition’ should not equal ‘acceptable that they died’
Devi Sridhar, professor and chair of Global Public Health at Edinburgh University Medical School, points out on Twitter that a ‘pre-existing health condition’ does not make someone’s death an acceptable loss. -
April 9, 2020
“We’re Being Punished Again”: How People with Intellectual Disabilities are Experiencing the Pandemic
An article by Jane Coaston describing the impact of COVID-19 on people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, from medical rationing in states such as Kansas, Alabama, and Washington, to the high risk of infection at group home facilities, to the concerns that some people have about accessing information and support during the pandemic. Changes such as being unable to visit family members or go out in the community have been difficult for some, and the article describes how the shift to working from home has been a challenge as ‘A lot of people with intellectual disabilities have never been adequately supported to use technology and to access it.’ -
04/08/2020
State Policies May Send People with Disabilities to the Back of the Line for Ventilators
An article by Liz Essley Whyte describing policies on medical rationing, state by state, and the efforts by disability advocacy groups to enforce equal access to lifesaving treatment. As disability rights activist Ari Ne’eman states in the article, ‘There is a long history of people with disabilities being devalued by the medical system. That’s why we have civil rights laws. We don’t have an exception in our country’s civil rights laws for clinical judgment. We don’t take it on trust.’ As Matthew Foster, an Alabama resident. says, ‘I have a right to live.’