For my second blog post, I will be discussing in a Socialist Ideology Structure, about the persons with physical disability and the barriers with access to services. I have researched that there is limited access to programs and services for this population. Individuals with physical disabilities are less likely to use services within the healthcare system than the general population. At the same time they are at greater risk for further complications and as likely as the general population to engage in health risk behaviours. (Thilo Kroll PhD, Gwyn C. Jones PhD, Matthew Kehn BA Melinda T. Neri 2006) It is a lot harder for people with disabilities to access services in order to meet their medical needs, therefeore they are at risk for further health complications.
Some of the barriers why people with physical disabilities cannot/don't access services are:
- health is not a priority
- they minimize and or don't understand medical issues
- they rely on support staff or family members to bring them and are sometimes not available
- mental health issues or denial
- they may be affected by their low self esteem and self confidence
- lack of information or knowledge of the medical risks
- fear of the building or transportation not being fully equipted
ttp://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/en/mcss/programs/accessibility/understanding_accessibility/understanding_barriers.aspx
Some of the strategies that address these barriers are:
- informing and educating the health care providers with regard to the barriers( advising the medical staff the reasons why the disabled patient cannot attend or access the services)
- the development of accessible prevention-focused information portals for people with physical disabilities( advocate for prevention and instruct on ways to anticipate effectiveness for services)
- consumer self-education( make the patient witht he disability and their support worker aware)
- assertiveness in requesting recommended services (being aware and educated on how to ask for appropriate services)
- more responsive healthcare system (health care system that is consciensious to the needs of the special needs population)
-Meri-Beth *
References:
Ministry of Community and Social Services (2012) Retrieved from
http://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/en/mcss/programs/accessibility/understanding_accessibility/understanding_barriers.aspx
Thilo Kroll PhD1,2, Gwyn C. Jones PhD1,3, Matthew Kehn BA1, Melinda T. Neri BA1
Health and Social Care in the Community :
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.libproxy.auc.ca/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2524.2006.00613.x/full
Meri Beth,
ReplyDeleteAs someone who has the best interests for those individuals with disabilities i can definately relate with this information. I truely agree with the fact that so many suffer in silence and go without adequate care at such a high cost. I really appreciated the work you put into this post and look forward to reading more of your blogs.
Great job
Angela "Northern and Rural Group"
Touching onto what Angela has said, because so many people do suffer in silence and go without the right care, something needs to be done. The first step would be making everyone aware of all the issues surrounding this topic. The individuals with disabilities, the medical staff, and the government all need to become aware so that a change can happen. The major things I see that need to be fixes are to ensure that all the facilities are properly educated and equpied to have people with disabilities in the hospital or docotors buildings. This will allow for the individuals with disabilities to have one less thing to worry about, and possibly take the next step they need to take to recieve the best medical care.
ReplyDelete-Kahli (Physical Disabilities Group)
You made some really great points in this post. Most of the newer buildings are very easy for people in wheel chairs etc. to get into, but many of the older buildings such as the Group Health are more difficult to get into, if it is even possible to do so. I've seen so many people with disabilities trying to find an elevator to get to the top or bottom levels to get to their appointments. If the elevators are under maintenance, they have to either figure out how to get up or down the stairs in a different way or reschedual their appointments, which isn't fair. I've learned a little on this problem, and a big reason why people with disabilities get complications is because they don't or are unable to access their medical staff as easily as people without disabilities are. For instance, if a person with disabilities is low income and cannot drive, they must wait for the Parabus, and get it to get them from their appointment if that is even possible. The whole process is very long and frustrating, so I agree with you, something needs to change. Buildings need to become more accessible and there needs to be a more flexible transportation option in place for these people.
ReplyDelete-Morgan (Disabilities Group)
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ReplyDeleteDuring my time at Sault College, I had a placement with an employment agency who was funded through ODSP to specifically deal with individuals who had disabilities. It was a 2 part business. The second part of the business offered services to businesses through out the Algoma district to provide accessible customer service and to help them to comply with the Accessible Customer Service Standard. With this new legislation being passed, businesses are now being required to take Accessible Customer Service Training and to write policies, procedures, and proposals for future renovation to make the building physically accessible. With that being said, there are things being done to address these issues. The problem is that it will take some time to have a fully accessible city. Remaining issues such an transportation and a lack of knowledge of how to assist individuals with disabilities are issues that should be addressed immediately by the city and organizations.
ReplyDelete-Alexandra
I find this interesting, as I am a person living with a disability (Cystic Fibrosis), and most of the points you made are quite true. You wouldn't believe the amount of people who are in denial or don't understand and take care of their medical condition. It's quite sad, as there are millions of resources available, not to mention specialists who are able to help you cope with the disability and treat it. From the poverty aspect, I'm extremely surprised that more people don't know that there are social assistance programs out there to help them with their disability such as ODSP support. It grants you income based on your needs and income generated from your job to help you pay the bills and pay for your medication and doctors visits. These programs need to be more widely promoted to help people such as myself living with a disability cope with it properly.
ReplyDelete-Spencer (poverty group)
Meri Beth,
ReplyDeleteThis post was set up really well. I really enjoyed how you gave a list of the barriers and the way in which these barriers are being addressed. The fact that there are so many programs out there to help individuals with disabilities is so great. One thing that is upsetting to me is that even though there are so many services a lot of people do not have access to them. Children in elementary school with disabilities like ADHD and autism is a perfect example of this. These children are often restricted and are not excelling due to lack of resources which is sad because so many children can't flourish because of this.
Geraldine
I completely agree with all of the comments being said and with this post. People silence themselves and need to speak up in terms of getting the care that they need so that they can lead a better life. There are many assistance programs that can help these people but they may be unaware. More information on where people with disabilities can get the help that they need, needs to be advertised or made known to the public better because they may not know where to get the help. Furthermore, better accessibility for these people most definitely needs to be addressed and fixed.
ReplyDelete- Alysha