Greater need but poorer access to care

Despite the fact that people with disabilities often have a greater need for good health care, they receive less of the care offered to the rest of the population. In several countries, more than half of all people with disabilities lack access to care, and in many cases the obstacles are even greater for women with disabilities.

A recurring problem is that care facilities are often not accessible to people with disabilities. People with disabilities report four times as often that they were treated badly, and three times as often that they were denied care.

People with disabilities, especially girls and women with disabilities, have less access to sexual information and services regarding sexual and reproductive health than other women. They are denied the right to make their own well-thought-out decisions about sexual relations, contraception and other forms of reproductive health care. This is particularly clear in the case of girls with intellectual disabilities. This means that girls and women run a higher risk of suffering from sexually transmitted diseases as well as unwanted pregnancies.

The UN highlights a comparison between five different countries that shows that pregnant women with disabilities to a greater extent than others are forced to give birth without the help of a professional midwife. This is due to the fact that these women are generally poorer, but also due to negative attitudes towards these women in healthcare.