For many of us, our world has a bit different focus right now than this time last month. For me, it is working from home with my dog and husband rather than in a new building with energetic groups coming in and out at every hour. The focus is less on the path towards an inclusive community where people of all abilities can thrive and more towards a healthier one where we all survive.
Pandemic is now a word we live with and not just a board game. I have an early memory related to a pandemic. It was of waiting in line, as a child, to get a sugar cube to avoid polio. Polio created a legitimate fear that, before 1955, children were kept inside on hot summer days, away from swimming pools and water, to avoid the spread of polio in the summer that could cripple the healthiest of young children as well as adults.
I also recall as a nurse in the early 1980s envisioning a hospital filled with AIDS wards with the single purpose of providing end of life care to that disease just being identified. Little was known other than the fact that it was terminal and highly contagious.
I have experienced illnesses that are now extinguished, or almost. Pictures of my siblings and me with chickenpox and mumps are part of the family slide show.
Over the centuries we have seen not only polio and AIDS pandemics but also Spanish flu and yellow fever. We have seen tuberculosis and cholera outbreaks that have killed more than the COVID-19 deaths of the last four months. With each we have witnessed significant social change accompanying these major health crises.
With the major cholera outbreaks of the 19th century we saw home bathroom designs transformed to include sinks with running water.
With the fears of the AIDS epidemic we have seen greater acceptance of the use of condoms.
I wonder what we will take away from this COVID-19 pandemic?
Will handshakes and hugs be the greetings of yesterday? Will our families take on saving patterns more like those of the depression era Greatest Generation so they will be prepared for the next occurrence? Will we see less international travel? Will masks that cover the smile of a stranger be routine? Will we relinquish some freedoms for the greater health of the community? Who knows?
I do know that AWS Foundation will have to work even harder to advocate for the rights of people of all abilities. This pandemic has initiated discussions around value of life when there are limited resources. This pandemic has moved us as a community from almost full employment to double digit unemployment and climbing. Communication is happening behind masks and on visual platforms which will exclude too many with sensory challenges. Public transportation, already not as robust as needed, is even less frequent as people avoid shared spaces.
AWS Foundation has been proud to provide Emergency Grants to more than two dozen nonprofit groups across northeast Indiana for the last four weeks. All we know is that there is more unknown before us. But, as with the epidemics of the past, we are part of a world that moves from identification to treatment and, almost always, to primary prevention. I am confident that is our path with COVID-19. In the meantime, our mission is the same. We are part of an inclusive community where people of all abilities have a path to live as independently as possible.