Women with disabilities

Women with disabilities are usually denied the opportunity to fully enjoy their human rights. Often, it is either a consequence of the lesser status tradition and customs ascribe them or due to discrimination which may be done overtly or covertly (Brooks & Deegan, 2009). As a result, it is fair to say that women with disabilities are in a way disadvantaged in the areas of education, violence, work and employment, health, family and reproductive rights, and abuse. In health issues, one of the major concerns is providing health awareness to them. In this paper we look at challenges that we might face in conducting a breast cancer awareness program for women with physical disability.

On top of the difficulties that women face in accessing healthcare by virtue that they are already discriminated against by virtue of their gender, women with disabilities have an even greater challenge. There are widespread challenges faced by physically disabled women in accessing healthcare all of which are of dire concern in the program. These challenges range from physical, attitudinal, environmental and cultural barriers(McDermott, et. Al. , 2007). These are extended to receiving healthcare with respect to breast health.

The most prominent challenge is physical barriers. For instance, people with disabilities are disadvantaged as most places are inaccessible making them physically inactive. Even in health centers some entries for instance lack the provision of a ramp and only have staircases for access (Brooks & Deegan, 2009). Physically disabled people find it chaotic to access such places and prefer to stay back and not go to such places. This is no exception for breast health centers and breast cancer screening areas.

Still on physical barriers, exercise is very important in preventing cancer. This is limited for physically disabled women as most of exercise equipment is unusable by them. This leads to physical inactivity making them vulnerable to cancer. Lastly, physically disabled women might fail to be treated for diseases because the treatment equipment is inaccessible to them. In breast cancer for instance, mammography equipment is inaccessible to physically disabled women. Statics show that mammography use among disabled women is lower than for normal women.

Cultural barriers are closely linked with attitudinal barriers. Medical healthcare professionals could overlook certain health aspects of a patient due to these barriers. A health worker may fail to focus on the patients’ health and be more focused on the disability leading to misdiagnosis. In the case of breast cancer, this may happen as a result of failure to give keen focus on the patient due to their disability leading to failure to diagnose the patient with breast cancer. For the same reason, health insurance for physically disabled people may be less available than that of people who are not disabled.

Communicating with people with physical disabilities needs to utilize public strategies so that they do not feel offended. This will depend on the particular physical disability they have. For instance, for a crippled person it is advisable to talk to them while seated. This way the person you are talking to will not have to look up when talking to you. One should also not pat the crippled person on the head or shoulder. This also might make them feel as lesser beings.

During the program, the location should be such that physical and environmental barriers should be avoided.  The rooms used for the program should be widely accessible to physically disabled people. The rooms should have ramps and accessible facilities which are at known locations. This also applies to the seating arrangement. Clear pathways should be left for access and empty spaces for people in wheelchairs to sit.

The personnel talking to the people should be friendly and avoid concentrating on the disability the patients have. This can be shown through the language used. Constant referring to the people as disabled should be avoided and instead refer to them as physically challenged or better still they should be addressed by their names if they are known. Moreover, avoid actions which may be demeaning to hem. For instance one should avoid pushing them around not unless when asked to.

References

Brooks, N & Deegan, M. (2009). Women and disability,the double handicap. Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare.

MDermott ,S. , Moran ,R., Platt ,T., & Dasari,S. (2007). Health onditions among women with disability. Journal of Women’s Health.

Campbell ,F., (2004). Access to community health care services for women with disabilities. Australian Disability Review.