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Educate Your Doctor
"As
a disabled woman, access is difficult for me. I wait until the
last minute to go to a doctor because it is embarrassing. I have
to look at the location, parking, doors, and waiting room. When
I get there, it always seems like I am inconveniencing the staff.
I do not require accessibility by choice."
"Many times I don't get a full physical because I can't get on
the table. . . . Physicians are reluctant to do a pelvic because
I can't hold my legs up. It is humiliating. I miss information
because I never have a good physical."
"Every office has been inaccessible in one way or another. It
would be great if some of the [examining] tables would go up and
down. Having tables that go up and down so women in wheelchairs
can transfer would be helpful to them as well as the elderly,
shorter women - it's a basic comfort for all."
"Providers
need to see us as women. Women who need the same preventive guidance
and services that all women receive."
Are
you frustrated by the lack of accessibility and appropriate equipment
at some health-care facilities?
Do
you ever feel uncomfortable because you need additional assistance
from medical staff to do things that should be simple, such as getting
weighed?
Are
there barriers, other than physical ones, that keep you from going
to the doctor?
If
you are unsure about how to address these issues with your physician,
then take a copy of Removing Barriers to Health Care: A Guide
for Health Professionals with you to your next doctor's appointment.
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This
20-page booklet, produced by the Center for Universal Design
at North Carolina State University and the NC Office on Disability
and Health, provides useful tips and easy-to-read diagrams
for making health-care facilities more accessible by meeting
ADA requirements and incorporating universal design principles.
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In
addition to providing health-care professionals a better understanding
of how to improve the physical environment, Removing Barriers to
Health Care also discusses how to improve personal interactions
with patients with disabilities.
So
don't let inaccessibility keep you from obtaining the quality health
care you deserve. Become an educated consumer - and educate your
healthcare professionals, too. Work in partnership with your healthcare
providers to make their facilities and services universally accessible
for everyone.
For
your free copy of
Removing Barriers to Health Care: A Guide for Health Professionals,
call the NC Office on Disability and Health
919-966-2932 or email odhpubs@mail.fpg.unc.edu.
Removing
Barriers to Health Care can also be downloaded in PDF or
HTML format or ordered from the NCODH web site at www.fpg.unc.edu/~ncodh.
[By
Sally McCormick, writer, Woodward Communications. Quotes from Women
with Disabilities in North Carolina: Their Views on Health Care,
by the NC Office on Disability and Health]
See also ...
Going
to the Doctor
Helping
Your Doctor Understand Disabilities
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