Disabled Ukrainians Are Left Behind Amid War, Activists Say

(Bloomberg) -- Ukraine's disabled community is being left behind as the country becomes a “survival of the fittest,” activists are warning.

“This war is going to profoundly affect the lives of disabled people and those who are at the most vulnerable edge of society,” Baroness Jane Campbell told Bloomberg Quicktake's “Emma Barnett Meets” show.

People with disabilities were segregated during communism and in the 30 years since then governments in the region have attempted to integrate them fully into society. But amid the chaos of the fighting, and with infrastructure under attack, the attention has once again slipped.

Rosemary Kayess, chair of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, says the committee wants set corridors for humanitarian workers to enter Ukraine and assist disabled people who need care. Russia has been slow to agree to such safe passage efforts for millions of civilians trying to flee a war now in its second month.

A quarter of the population of 41 million has been displaced from their homes, with nearly a third leaving the country, making the provision of specialized care even more complicated.

Olena Zelenska, the wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has campaigned extensively for disabled people since her husband took office in 2019 and recently launched a “barrier-free handbook.” It provides war-time advice in Ukrainian for the most vulnerable -- families with children, the elderly and disabled people, and was promoted on social media.

Even so, more information should be made available about where people with disabilities can get shelter, according to Campbell.

She specifically expressed concern for children in residential care homes.

Nearly 50,000 of the 2.7 million Ukrainians with disabilities are children living in care homes, according to UNICEF. Roughly 30,000 of those children have been reunited with families since Russia's Feb. 24 invasion, the government in Kyiv says, while 5,000 have been evacuated from institutions.