Health Care and Disabilities
Cody Unser and Heidi James, MD
Heidi speaks with disability rights advocate Cody Unser about the barriers this population faces when they (try to) access health care. Too often, physical, attitudinal, and educational barriers stand between patients and needed care.
- Cody Unser, who had a spinal cord injury as a child, is the founder of the Cody Unser First Step foundation and a passionate advocate for disability rights, particularly regarding access to health care.
- Those with disabilities are the single largest minority group — and a group anyone could join at any time.
- Three main types of barriers impair access to care:
- Physical
- Can your patient physically enter your clinic or hospital?
- Is the equipment adaptable to their needs?
- Is your staff trained to be able to help?
- Attitudinal
- A survey of physicians found that over 40% believed patients with disabilities have a lower quality of life than others.
- Unfortunately, many physicians will treat patients in a manner consistent with this assumption.
- Cody shares the example of professionals assuming those with disabilities are NOT sexually active, which can lead to substandard care and harm the patient-physician relationship.
- Educational
- Medical training does not adequately equip physicians to help patients with disabilities.
- Knowledge gaps exist in
- Care of the primary condition that resulted in disability
- Secondary conditions arising from the disability
- eg, osteoporosis, scoliosis, pressure ulcers, or urinary tract infections in patients with spinal cord injuries
- This is an excellent resource to help address these knowledge deficits: ASIA e-Learning Center - American Spinal Injury Association (asia-spinalinjury.org)
- EM:RAP/ROP will be creating curriculum on these topics as well — stay tuned!
PEARL: Being aware of institutional and personal barriers to care can help improve the well-being of our patients with disabilities.
RELATED CONTENT:
EM:RAP 2021 July Disabilities Bias
