Living with a Disability During COVID-19

Living with a Pandemic During COVID-19

Since the first day of lockdown, well I self-quarantined maybe three days before the country or state had a mandatory lockdown, I have kept a journal, counting the days of lockdown, number of people who died from this virus, would I call it a disease, or the flu? People often said that it was very similar to the Spanish flu. I just left it at that, didn’t feel like going into a deep discussion about the difference between the Coronavirus and the Spanish Flu. I kept track of all the laws #45 had passed, I will not use his name, like making the pesticide that killed the bees legal again, what law he proposed but got shut down in the Supreme Court. But, truthfully, I missed spending my afternoons in the laundromat:

Laundry

Before the lockdown,

The laundry day was

Thursday.

No one was there, empty,

relaxed, get a paper with a

crossword puzzle in it, and

some coffee.

Sit in the smell of fabric

softener and the feeling of

warm dryers, although people

come and get their

long-forgotten clothes.

And, the vehicles outside led

the way in the maze of parked

cars.

Father and son play catch in

the parking lot,

that was all before the

lockdown.

Yes, I do reference the crossword again, I miss the smell of the newspaper and the soft feeling of the paper under my arms as I scratch with a pen the name from the clue into the blanks of the crossword.

I receive emails from Futurism magazine, “Discover the latest science and technology news and videos.” In it, there was an article that stated that the second wave of the coronavirus is going to be worse for people’s mental health. That social distancing makes people get sick from being lonely. I hate to reread that sentence again, makes people get sick from being lonely.

Isn’t that how society treats the elderly, disabled, the ones who suffer from chronic illnesses or are deformed? I am on a website for brain injury patients like myself. When this pandemic happened a survivor said that nothing different will change in his life. He dines alone, he goes to the movies by himself, his so-called friends are always too busy or not around to spend any time with him. He stated nothing will change his life.

So, my question is why is it okay, for society to treat all of the bruised and broken survivors like that? Now that the people need others so they will not be lonely and sick, what will happen when this virus is over?

As I walked out of my door on the broken and rugged sidewalk, I walk to the park and see families picnicking or children with their pets, or maybe they are riding their bikes, couples that are finally able to be seen together, in the distance I hear the sounds of a protest going on across the street. And, I wonder when this ends, will we be the way we were, buying bigger trucks that will pollute the environment? Will our community become chaotic again, too loud to speak, the air too dirty to inhaling, it will feel like a 100 little knives cutting through our lungs. Will our days be spent working to death to pay off everything we own, but we can’t enjoy it because it cost too much, so there will be no time to enjoy it? Will we ignore the people that need our friendships, but we will not associate with them because we don’t want others to see us as they are our friends?