Barriers and Obstacles that prevent women with disabilities from obtaining health services are in the process of being evaluated and eliminated with the passage into law last year of now Public Act 03-40 An Act Concerning Improved Access to Gynecological Services for Women with Disabilities. The 2003-2004 Public Health Committee of the State Legislature has received the Report of Recommendations for Gynecological Services for Women with Disabilities. The Report was developed in the fall by a work group of staff from the Office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities, The Department of Public Health, consumers with various disabilities, and the perspectives of medical providers.
“Several important recommendations are made in the report", says James D. McGaughey, Executive Director of the State of CT Office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities. "The most significant is the need for a mandate and funding to conduct both structural assessments and a review of policies and procedures at various public and private medical facilities to determine Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance. Other recommendations include the need for a disabled women’s medical advisory group to establish best practices, a regulatory body to safeguard the provision of gynecological services for women with disabilities, and the need for expanded outreach and public education to consumers, caregivers, families and the medical community.”
“CT can take pride for being the first state to study the barriers and obstacles to gynecological care for women with disabilities, and at the same time various federal agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Justice are doing the same. CT can serve as a model for other states by being in the forefront of an issue and a catalyst for reform”.
The ABACUS Project of the CT Women and Disabilities Network stands for Assessing Barriers and Creating Useful Solutions. Last year trainings were conducted of women with disabilities with the American Cancer Society and their Tell A Friend Program, encouraging women to have mammograms. Another part of the ABACUS Project included trainings of mammography technicians in working with women with disabilities. 10 women with disabilities were trained in January 2004 as Breast Health Educators and will hold their own trainings in March.