Self-advocates are demanding barrier-free access to medical practices
Vienna (OTS) – On the occasion of World Health Day on April 7th, Lebenshilfe Austria strongly criticized the inadequate medical care for people with intellectual disabilities. In addition, self-representatives of Lebenshilfen complain about the lack of comprehensive accessibility among doctors or in medical practices.
In an already overburdened healthcare system, people with intellectual disabilities find it even more difficult to receive good medical care. The lack of statutory health insurance physicians leads to long waiting times for appointments and stress for everyone in the waiting room. There is often little time left for the actual examination or treatment. “But people with intellectual disabilities in particular need more time because fears have to be reduced and trust built up. People with intellectual disabilities often do not participate sufficiently in examinations or treatments,” emphasizes Bernhard Schmid, relative and vice president of Lebenshilfe Österreich. “In order to avoid unnecessary disease progression, suffering and delays in treatment, more specialist knowledge is definitely needed on the part of doctors and trained nursing and accompanying staff in hospitals,” says Bernhard Schmid.
Comprehensive accessibility required
However, Lebenshilfe does not only criticize the lack of appropriate, timely and high-quality medical care from statutory health insurance physicians or in hospitals. Self-representatives of Lebenshilfe also demand barrier-free access to medical care.
It’s not just about doctors’ practices having to be barrier-free for people with disabilities, the self-advocates also demand that doctors use barrier-free, easy-to-understand language.
„Doctors should speak to people with intellectual disabilities in simple language that is easy to understand. This should already be part of basic medical training
“, demands Hanna Kamrat, self-advocate and vice president of Lebenshilfe Austria. “We want to understand our findings and the necessary treatments from the doctor so that we can make decisions about treatment methods ourselves. We want to be addressed directly and taken seriously,” continues Hanna Kamrat. “Another problem is the lack of barrier-free medical practices and the lack of statutory health insurance physicians, especially in rural areas. Many people with disabilities cannot afford to resort to elective doctors
“, criticizes Hanna Kamrat.
„The quality of a state health system is always measured by how well and how well the most vulnerable groups are cared for. In our experience, solid medical care for people with intellectual disabilities is only possible if individual medical staff in the system are meticulously committed to it
“, says Christina Holmes, consultant for law and inclusion policy at Lebenshilfe Austria. “This commitment is very commendable, but it should not be the safety net of an inadequate system. The health system must be designed in such a way that every person, regardless of whether they have disabilities or not, receives adequate, timely and high-quality medical care
“, says Christina Holmes in conclusion.
Questions & Contact:
Lebenshilfe Austria
Carmen Guttl
Communication & Public Relations
0660 13 92 809
guettl@lebenshilfe.at