The People the Pandemic Forgot

Recently, The Atlantic posted an article regarding voting during a pandemic. Included in the first two lines was the sentence: Voting in person during the coronavirus pandemic is about as safe as going to the grocery store.

But this begs the question, how safe is going to the grocery store and who is it safe for? 

Back in March, as the pandemic began to let us know it wasn’t going away any time soon, my parents made a very dramatic decision. They simply were not going to leave their home as long as the virus was spreading. When I say they weren’t going to leave their home, you need to understand that this means for the past six months, neither of my parents have set foot beyond the end of their driveway. They don’t go to the store, they don’t visit neighbors, and my Mom doesn’t take her formally daily walks around the neighborhood. 

For many people, this decision has been shocking. They’ve been mocked, scoffed at, and of course, forgotten. 

The reason for this extra level of caution is the fact that my dad is severely immunocompromised. If he gets a cold, he’s more than likely going to end up in the hospital with breathing problems. He has severe asthma and allergies and even what may seem a “light cold” to a healthy person, can and often has turned into severe health issues for him. It was known early on that the corona virus was a respiratory disease and as such, with no cure and no way to even treat it early on, my dad took the best safety precaution he could, and stayed home. 

For any person who is immunocompromised, chronically ill or disabled, this story is very familiar. Despite the thinking of many able bodied Americans, his behavior isn’t that unusual among those who have added an extra level of precaution to protect themselves during this pandemic. 

I have more than one friend who has also been forced into the hermit-like, and extreme to many, quarantine behavior. Because what choice do they have? Who is taking care of them?

I’m sure we can all remember back in March when everyone was staying home. When we were all afraid of what exactly was going on and not being sure how the corona virus spread. But it didn’t last. We got bored. We got lonely. And damn it no governor was going to take away my right to get a haircut and go to the movies. 

Thus, our disabled neighbors were forgotten and still are. 

If voting is “as safe as going to the grocery store” who is that for? Who is going to the grocery store safe for. It’s not for my parents who live in Georgia, one of the worst hot spots for the spread of corona. Even their own church has forgotten them and decided that meeting in person and maskless was fine. 

What does that mean they’ve been forgotten? It means that people have stopped trying to mitigate the spread of the virus. We have collectively stopped caring about our neighbors who have no choice. Who can’t suddenly remember they don’t have milk and make a quick run to the store. When the pandemic began, it was all about staying home to protect the vulnerable. What is it about now? It’s about going back to normal because we were tired of caring. 

“We got bored. We got lonely. And damn it no governor was going to take away my right to get a haircut and go to the movies. Thus, our disabled neighbors were forgotten and still are.”

Take a moment and sit back and think about how different your life could be, and is for many disabled Americans. Do you have a covid pod that you see on a regular basis? Or maybe you’ve gone to the movies recently as they’ve opened back up. Sitting in the dark surrounded by the smell of popcorn and soda as the screen fills up the space in front of you. Or maybe it’s just been the simple pleasures of getting take out, going to the coffee shop, or browsing the grocery store for the next snack food you’ll need during that two hour Zoom call. Or maybe, you haven’t even thought about vote by mail because you can vote early or your work has given you election day off. 

These are choices you can make. These choices haven’t been taken from you. For my parents, for people I know, and for a large percentage of Americans, these are not choices they can make. 

When we say “voting is safe as going to the grocery store”, who are we talking about? Who is making the choice on how safe going to the store versus voting is? Are we taking into account the disabled and the immunocompromised into consideration when we say “it is as safe as (fill in the blank)”? We’re not because those people aren’t included in the conversation, they aren’t considered, they’re forgotten. We continue to talk about and push this importance of the 2020 election. Many disabled Americans know this first hand because of the lack of care they are frequently shown, not just by their neighbors and “friends,” but by the government. They want to vote. But with the constant talk of “is voting safe or not safe?” “Is the USPS working or not?” “Will my vote be counted?” Some organizations and individuals have even started to push voting in person to make sure your vote counts. But not everyone can safely make that choice.

This is what The Atlantic and many others miss. We’ve forgotten our friends and family. We forgot them when we decided we need to get back to “normal” spreading the virus like wildfire, and now we’ve forgotten them as we decide who voting is or isn’t safe for. 

So what now? People with disabilities have been fighting for their rights for years. For many disabled Americans, being ignored and forgotten is nothing new. According to a Government Accountability Office study conducted in 2016, of the 137 polling places they inspected, two thirds of them had at least one obstacle related to accessibility for disabled voters. We cannot allow this to continue, especially during a highly contagious pandemic. More than ever, able bodied Americans must stand with their disabled friends and family and speak up for them. We must focus on how we can support disability justice, especially as it often intersects with sexism, racism, and more. I can almost guarantee someone in your life is having to make a difficult choice about voting in person or voting by mail to best protect their health this year. That they’ve often been left behind when it comes to the everyday life of able bodied Americans, especially when it comes to voting. Don’t ask them how you can help, the answers are out there. They need your voice and your advocacy to demand equal protections, to voting accessibility for all, and most of all, to not forget them.