Commentary on 'Increasing the participation of women with intellectual disabilities in women's health screening: a role for disability support services' (Conder, Mirfin-Veitch, Payne, Channon, & Richardson, 2019)

摘要

Issues concerning health and the rights of all citizens to have equal access opportunities to early intervention and positive health care cuts to the very heart of disability issues, regardless of nationality. The right to experience the same screening processes as other people, the right to be respected as unique human beings, and the right to be understood are challenges for all professionals, frontline personnel, family members, and advocates for people with disabilities. These issues are challenging because they require effort, resources, understanding, and, most of all, a need to work in partnership with people with disabilities to find the best method of providing necessary support. The article by Conder, Mirfin-Veitch, Payne, Channon, and Richardson (2019) has highlighted a number of factors identified by healthcare professionals and disability service personnel who were positively motivated to provide the best assistance possible for individuals to complete cervical and breast screening procedures. However, the discussion is not complete without the observations of the subjects of these conversations; women with intellectual disabilities themselves. To this end, the authors have provided this complementary and detailed perspective in a second article (Mirfin-Veitch, Payne, Conder, & Channon, 2016). The third voice in these conversations is that of family members and advocates for women with intellectual disabilities. These discussions can be found in other articles dedicated to this purpose (e.g., Greenwood, Dreyfus, & Wilkinson, 2014; Swaine, Dababnah, Parish, & Luken, 2013).