Disability advocate David Belcher says 'let it rip' COVID strategy not working for our most vulnerable community members

As the current wave of infections continues to swell, anxiety is growing in a community that is trying to cope with support staff shortages, being unable to access their usual healthcare, while living with the "underlying health conditions" being used to explain away - and even excuse - a rising death toll.

David Belcher, of Community Disability Alliance Hunter (CDAH), said it felt like the government had "given up" on protecting the vulnerable community because the pandemic became "too hard". People with disabilities were already coping with a shortage of support staff to help them with their daily needs, as well as the anxiety of wondering if - or when - they would get the virus.

"And it is a life or death situation for many people with a disability," he said. "You could make a reasonable case for living with COVID if the proper processes and procedures were in place to have a gradual opening up. But what this is; 'Oh, it's all become too hard and we're just going to let it go now'. It is like they have just given up. And what that means is that they have given up on people with disability, and recognising that there is a percentage of the population that they are OK with losing."

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The language used to explain away COVID deaths needed to change.

"'Underlying health conditions' is being used to minimise the deaths of these people," he said. "A lot of those people who are dying are people with disability."

Most of these people should be receiving their booster vaccines now, Mr Belcher said, but they were not because their initial vaccinations were delayed too.

"There is definitely the feeling that we are being left behind again, that we are an after-thought," he said. "We saw in the Royal Commission we were de-prioritised as part of the vaccine rollout. There has to be more than lip service. We have not seen anything that has given us any feeling of safety that people with disability aren't just going to be left to fend for themselves. Just bureaucracy on bureaucracy."

Do you have a disability and have a story to share about your experience during the pandemic? Email anita.beaumont@newcastleherald.com.au.

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