People with disabilities must watch from the sidelines and just try to get what is left over

 In 2015 and 2017, Human Rights Watch research in the Central African Republic in Bambari and Kaga-Bandoro displacement camps found that residents with disabilities, particularly those without family members, struggled to get food due to the often chaotic and disorganised nature of food distributions. A camp resident with a disability said, “Everyone is mixed and people start to fight with each other after a few minutes, so we people with disabilities must watch from the sidelines and just try to get what is left over.”

Displaced persons with disabilities

 In 2019, in Cameroon, Human Rights Watch interviewed displaced persons with disabilities, of whom only 9 of the 45 interviewees received humanitarian assistance. In all but one case, aid was distributed by local charities in urban centers and not in rural settings. In urban settings, people with disabilities also face overcrowding and difficulty accessing water and sanitation facilities. One UN employee based in the South-West region in Cameroon told Human Rights Watch, “There are large swathes of the Anglophone regions where the crisis has hit the local population hard, but where aid organizations are yet to deliver anything.”

Obstacles to access to assistive devices, such as wheelchairs

 Israel’s 13-year closure of the Gaza Strip, along with neglect by Hamas authorities, significantly encumbered the lived experiences of tens of thousands of Palestinians with disabilities. Electricity shortages often leave Gaza residents without electricity for 9 to 14 hours per day. These restrictions affect the entire population but have a disproportionate impact on persons with disabilities. They may not only be confined to their homes but may also be prevented from fleeing during fighting.

Some Gaza residents reported in 2019 that they were unable to charge their scooters, trapping them in their homes. Even if their wheelchairs or other mobility devices were working, they often cannot leave their homes or access other buildings due to a lack of ramps and elevators.

Others reported obstacles to access to assistive devices, such as wheelchairs and hearing aids, largely due to Israeli import restrictions, shortfalls in local authorities’ and aid groups’ provision of necessary devices, and a lack of expertise in Gaza to repair damaged assistive devices.

A young man with an artificial leg that broke

 A young man with an artificial leg that broke when he fled into the forest after clashes was forced to leave the leg in the forest and has since walked on crutches.

Mom with a disability

One single mother with a physical disability who struggled to flee the South-West region in Cameroon did not have access to an assistive device. She used a small tree branch as a walking cane to support herself.

BLIND ABANDONED

 The daughter of a 75-year-old man said that she had to abandon her father, who is blind and has a mental health condition and a physical disability, at home in the deserted village, with little access to food and water, because she could have otherwise been killed by armed forces if she did not escape quickly enough.

KILLED DUE TO DEAFNESS

 A 43-year-old man with hearing and intellectual disabilities who lived in the North-West region of Cameroon was killed by Rapid Intervention Battalion soldiers because he did not answer their questions. “He was shot in the head and the chest,” a witness said.

NO SCOTTER TO FLEE

 During Israel’s military offensive in Gaza in 2014, a 26-year-old woman with a physical disability was unable to flee with the rest of her family when a missile struck her house. She was wounded in the leg,

and her mobility scooter was destroyed. She managed to flee to safety only when a relative returned to help her.