This blog post, written by Archi Das Gupta, explores how people with disabilities face worsened health disparities as opposed to able-bodied people. Health disparities faced by those with disabilities are largely unrecognized from the public eye, yet disabled folk account for 18% of America’s population. Disabilities are impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions that a person has to endure because they were born with it and have no control over it. Impairment is a problem with a body structure or the function of a body part; limitation of activity is difficulty with doing a particular activity individually while others can do it easily; and participation restriction is when an individual experiences a certain type of interaction in involvement in life situations. People who have disabilities often get the short end of the stick as they get horrible healthcare. Individuals with disabilities don’t even get healthcare at all sometimes, therefore they experience health care problems they never learned about before. Moreover, having disabilities can also negatively harm one’s life, as a 2010 census in America concluded that only 46% of Americans aged from 18-24 were employed. Individuals with severe disabilities often face more poverty (27%) compared to those who have less severe disabilities (12%) and those who do not have any at all (9%). Certain parts of their life are rendered harder for them and they have no control over it. Disability is diverse-- it does not only affect one group of people. Yet it often affects certain racial groups more than others due to mistreatment by society and the government. 2 out of 5 Non-Hispanic, American Indians and Alaska Natives have disabilities. If you break down these statistics even more 3 out of 10 American Indian, Alaska Natives have a disability, and 1 out of 6 Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders have a disability. Disability is extremely prevalent in black people which is a direct result of different systems of oppression. 1 out of 4 black people has a disability, and 1 out of 6 Hispanic people faces disabilities. Individuals that disabilities are more likely to become obese, resort to smoking, containing diabetes, and contain a heart disease. People with disabilities are 38.2% more likely to become obese than those who do not have a disability (26.2%). Now break that into racial groups with people who have disabilities that are obese: American Indians and Alaska Natives (40.6%), Black (47.3%), Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander (31.8%), Hispanic (39.9%). Furthermore, disabled individuals often resort to smoking as a way to cope with their problems; they are 28.2% more likely to smoke than individuals who don’t have a disability. If you break this according to racial groups, it accounts for American Indians and Alaska Natives (41.2%), Black (28.1%), Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander (28.2%), Hispanic (20.6%). Furthermore, individuals with disabilities are 11.5% more likely to develop a heart problem than those without a disability (3.8%). Additionally, individuals with disabilities are 16.3% more likely to be diabetic. There are many causes of disabilities that individuals don’t have any control over. Teratogens are agents that cause defects in a developing embryo. This includes maternal nutrition, infections, radiations, maternal stress, chromosomal disorders, etc. Postnatal causes include poisoning, encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), meningitis (inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, injuries. The barriers to healthcare are even more detrimental for individuals with disabilities such as prohibitive costs, limited availability of services, physical barriers, and inadequate skills and knowledge on health workers (according to WHO). Prohibitive costs are when healthcare is too expensive to afford. Healthcare in America is a 3.6 trillion dollar business yet disability-associated healthcare expenditures account for 26.7%. In certain parts of the world, there is a limited amount of availability of services such as India, in America, it may be hard for disabled people during the coronavirus because the hospitals are overflowing with patients. Physical barriers include lack of wheelchair accessible entrance, medical equipment being utilized for non-disabled people, etc. Conclusively, America and the world need to make reforms to healthcare because healthcare is a necessity, it should not be hard to access healthcare. Governments should work on making health accessible and affordable by working on the financial factor, policy, and legislation. Governments should ensure that people on different socioeconomic levels are treated equally in healthcare. Furthermore, healthcare workers should learn about disabilities and train them accordingly so that people with disabilities can get the quality care they deserve. Works Cited:
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Welcome to our blog, Medquity!Here we will post extra articles on health disparities to display the profound health inequities in our healthcare system. These are updated every other weekend, so check back regularly! Archives
July 2021
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