For years, organizations have talked about access to healthcare for persons with disabilities. These organizations have really referred to financial access. Most insurance policies will not cover persons with disabilities and even those that do do not always provide the essential services that persons with disabilities need. The only alternative has been for persons with disabilities to impoverish themselves so that they become eligible for Medicaid services. But the access problem doesn't stop there.
The next part of access, and a very important part, is being able to get in the door. This is not as big a problem as it used to be, since most medical facilities understand that the law requires that they be accessible. However, getting in the door is still sometimes a problem and, even when it is not, access to healthcare still has a long way to go.
Once a person with a disability gets into the medical office, actually getting the same services that others get can be quite difficult.
In some offices, doorways to exam rooms and the bathroom are not accessible. A person who uses a wheelchair sometimes has to use a bedpan in an exam room. This is humiliating to say the least.
How many medical offices have an exam table that is accessible to somebody who cannot stand? How many offices have a lift so that somebody that cannot transfer can be lifted safely onto an exam table or have a scale capable of weighing a patient in a wheelchair? How many offices have specific procedures in place for accommodating persons with disabilities? How many have had their staff trained on how to interact with persons with disabilities? If there is an accessible exam table, how is it scheduled? When is the contact made with the interpreter referral service when a person who is deaf schedules an appointment?
The federal Americans with Disabilities Act requires that healthcare providers provide care to persons with disabilities that is equal to what they provide to all their other patients.
When that happens, then healthcare will be accessible.
Annette Bourbonniere
401-846-1960
Fax: 401-846-1944
Twitter: @AccessInclude
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