The Isolated World of the Disabled People
Boy in a wheelchair
The Covid-19 crisis has forced the world into isolation. Everyone have started experiencing the feelings of loneliness and the psychological effects of being isolated – stress, anxiety, and depression. However, there are millions of people worldwide, who are no stranger to this kind of isolation and exclusion from the society.
What the corona virus has forced on the rest of the population has been unintentionally forced on these group of people – the ones living with severe disabilities. Indeed, what seems to be an isolated world for many today is the norm for many disabled people. With less accessibility and lack of independence, a large number of disabled persons are forced to live in a world of exclusion confined to their home for most of their lives.
Suddenly, and for the first time, the general population are coming in face to face with the reality of living in isolation, excluded from the normal life. The sense of isolation and detachment from social life felt by people today can be a temporary phase, but for those with severe disabilities, it is permanent and back to normalcy is something far from reality. Even for a large section of elderly population, these experiences of exclusion and isolation is unfortunately their usual.
This should be the time that the realization hit the minds of people. Sensitive people could now realize what forceful confinement means and what it does to an individual – emotionally and psychologically. This realization might help bridge the psychological gap existing between abled and disabled people. People’s empathetic actions can bring a change to the usual lives of those in social exclusion, deterring their loneliness and isolation for years from the rest of the society.
