Life After Lockdown - Limited Horizons
Twelve weeks isolating with my family in a two-bed bungalow. The prospect was so daunting that the innards of our washing machine gave way, creating a nervous puddle and leaving us to wash clothes in the bathtub. The washing machine was obviously more concerned than I was.
Whilst the familiar faces of television grapple with isolation, caught between the shocking numbers and the novelty of the situation, life for me has not changed all that much. In fact, for a great many disabled and chronically ill people, isolation is a familiar if unwelcome companion.
Since the lockdown in the UK came into force at the end of March, the response from communities has been emphatic. On the Bere Peninsula, our Covid-19 Volunteer Group gained over two hundred members within a fortnight. Tavistock businesses worked together to enable customers to receive their fruit, veg, meat, dairy and eggs in a single delivery and a flyer dropped onto our doormat from a neighbour we had never even spoken to, offering help and support.
Community spirit has been galvanised and nothing encapsulated that so neatly and so buoyantly as the Thursday evening Clap for Carers. Once a week we stepped out of our patio doors, saucepans at the ready, and listened to the applause swelling out of the village. Hoots and whoops and sirens wail, and it never failed to lift the spirits.
There is, however, a second groundswell rising, one you may not be aware of. Over the past weeks, the disabled community has watched the wider world come to terms with having limitations placed on their movements and with the fear that every cough can bring. Infrastructure has evolved rapidly to cater to the housebound; remote meetings are commonplace and digital consultations with our doctors have become run of the mill. Yet, these are things the disabled community has been crying out for, for years. You cannot blame the 13.9 million disabled people in the UK for beginning to question whether these advancements would ever have come to pass without the impetus of Covid-19? Why were our needs not stimulus enough?
No one knows how long lockdown will last and the anxiety it has caused, the financial and emotional pressure it has placed on families and individuals, cannot be underestimated. The losses we sustain will be global but, slowly, businesses will reopen, people will return to work, buses and trains will fill up and life will return to ‘normal’. Only, normal for some of us will not be dissimilar to what you’re experiencing now.
Covid-19 has offered an unexpected and not always comfortable glimpse into isolated lives. Like a Victorian peep show, a new world has unfolded within narrow horizons. My hope is that when the daily grind resumes and lockdown is lifted fully, you do not forget that life for many of us remains restricted. The limitations placed on you by lockdown, by the virus, are placed on disabled people by their own bodies. That fact does not make us pitiable, it makes us resilient and tenacious and well-placed to overcome. We have the toolkit to cope with isolation and fear. Creativity within limits is second nature to us. This in turn makes us valuable, particularly in times of crisis and we naturally want the opportunity to contribute.
We cannot achieve this without equal access.
After all, if you had to live in lockdown for the rest of your life, wouldn’t you expect the advancements in remote accessibility to continue? Wouldn’t you demand the right to see a doctor when you needed to and continue earning a living even if you weren’t well enough to leave the sofa? Wouldn’t you want to be valued as a consumer and be able to contribute to business, industry and your community?
When your freedoms are restored and you walk into shops, hop onto a train or board a flight to visit family abroad, keep in mind the disabled and chronically ill people in your community who, when lockdown is lifted, might not see their lives change so very much. During this crisis we have recognised one another, our sacrifices and the power of community. We have also seen how accommodations can be made when we are unable to access the services and locations we need to. Why should innovation only occur in extraordinary circumstances? It shouldn’t.
Limitations really only exist for a lack of options. We should all lend our voices to ensuring that access to transport, commerce, education and business is equal. It can only lead to a fairer, stronger more open society.
Time does not create change, people do.