How disabled people may face discrimination in healthcare

Society as a whole is much more accommodating of the disabled than it was fifty, twenty, or even ten years ago. This is reflected in the way that buildings are designed. Also, the way that laws like the Equality Act are drafted, and the culture more broadly.

However, there still exist barriers that prevent disabled people. From enjoying the same experience as everyone else when it comes to things like access to healthcare.

In some cases, healthcare providers, including the NHS, can let disabled people down to an extent that amounts to medical negligence. But sometimes, the disparities are not easy to spot. Let’s take a look at several common ways in which healthcare might be found wanting.

Diagnostic overshadowing

When a healthcare professional examines a disabled person, they can sometimes have difficulty distinguishing symptoms that are caused by a disability from those that aren’t. In some cases, this can cause them to ignore or dismiss symptoms. Rather than being caused by the disability, they could be caused by some other unrelated ailment or illness.

It’s important to stress that the healthcare professional needn’t be consciously aware that they are acting in a discriminatory way for medical negligence to have occurred in this case. They simply need to have made a mistake that would not have been made by a competent member of the profession.

A misdiagnosis can lead to a delay in effective treatment from being prescribed – which in some cases, can be disastrous.

Physical barriers

The more obvious barriers presented to disabled people relate to the premises themselves. You might think of a wheelchair user arriving at their GP’s surgery to find that the lift is out of order. Then they realise their appointment is on the second floor. In other cases, a patient might be required to stand to use a particular piece of equipment. For example, a set of scales.

Where accommodations can reasonably be made to assist the disabled person, they should be made. The NHS has provided some clarity on what reasonable adjustments look like – these being mostly informed by the Equality Act. 

Communication barriers

Certain disabled people might have difficulty communicating in the same way as everyone else. If you have trouble seeing or hearing, then the availability of things like captioned videos and Braille text might be critical. Again, reasonable adjustments should be made. This applies to signage, written materials, and the advice verbally offered by medical professionals.

Programmatic barriers

Finally, there are so-called ‘programmatic’ barriers, which make life difficult for disabled people in particular. Scheduling might be inflexible, and transport arrangements may be difficult. There might also be a more general lack of communication and empathy with disabled people who need it.