We have already been through a couple of false endings to the Covid-19 pandemic. But finally, there really are solid reasons to think that it may really be ending, or at least becoming a different, less dangerous and disruptive problem than it has been for the last year. This is good news for disabled people, as it is for everyone. But this transition will be a lot easier if a few of our unique needs can be met.

People with disabilities have disproportionately suffered from the pandemic. We have been devastated medically, through our disability-related vulnerability and dangerous medical responses to it. We have been hindered practically, because of the extra difficulties we face in protecting ourselves. And like everyone else, we have been affected socially by a year of isolation and stress.

A report this February showed that 6 out of 10 people in the United Kingdom who died of Covid-19 were in some way disabled. Clear data on how the pandemic affected disabled people in the U.S. is a bit harder to assemble. But what information we have from various sources and angles also confirms that disabled people in general have suffered more than most from Covid-19.

Disabled people have experienced the pandemic differently, and we are still going to need some different approaches as we reach its end or phase-out. Here are three key ways to help make the last few months of the pandemic a little easier for us.

1. Make vaccines truly accessible.

Since December when the first effective vaccines were announced, disabled people have been arguing to be among the highest priority to get vaccinated when low supplies made rationing necessary. In many states we were excluded for far too long, given the scale of our higher risks and greater hardships. Some, like California, shifted priorities more than once – first prioritizing people with chronic health conditions, then prioritizing strictly by age, then going back to prioritizing people with some disabilities  – within just a few weeks. More disabled people are now gaining eligibility, but too many states have been slow to focus on disability as a risk factor. In many states still we are excluded, and in some places, high risk disabled people may not get meaningful access to vaccines until they are open to the general population.