Disabilities

Clarence chats with Kayte Barton about disabilities and the healthcare outcomes of those living with disabilities.

Kayte - athlete and Special Olympian - serves as Health Messenger for Special Olympics Minnesota. In this role, she helps athletes live healthier lives and educates others on the importance of inclusive healthcare for folks with intellectual disabilities. Kayte also works with Institute for Exceptional Care’s Individuals with the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Project Committee, where she works to create better health outcomes for people with disabilities in partnership with payers, healthcare professionals, and researchers.

Kayte brings her expansive knowledge to such an important topic.

Join the conversation at healthchatterpodcast.com

Brought to you in support of Hue-MAN, who is Creating Healthy Communities through Innovative Partnerships.More about their work can be found at http://huemanpartnership.org/

Research

Key facts

There are many types of disabilities, such as those that affect a person’s: Vision, Movement, Thinking, Remembering, Learning, Communicating, Hearing, Mental health, Social relationships
An estimated 1.3 billion people experience significant disability. This represents 16% of the world’s population, or 1 in 6 of us
Some persons with disabilities die up to 20 years earlier than those without disabilities
Health inequities arise from unfair conditions faced by persons with disabilities, including stigma, discrimination, poverty, exclusion from education and employment, and barriers faced in the health system itself

Intellectual disabilities

Intellectual disability is a term used when there are limits to a person’s ability to learn at an expected level and function in daily life
There are a number of causes of ID which are related to various risk factors (biomedical, social, behavioral, and educational) and the timing of exposure (before a person is born, around the time of their birth, and after the person is born) to those factors
Some of the most common known causes of intellectual disability – like Down syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome, fragile X syndrome, genetic conditions, birth defects, and infections – happen before birth
For many children, the cause of their intellectual disability is not known

Inclusion

Inclusion of people with disabilities into everyday activities involves practices and policies designed to identify and remove barriers such as physical, communication, and attitudinal, that hamper individuals’ ability to have full participation in society, the same as people without disabilities

Accessibility - is when the needs of people with disabilities are specifically considered, and products, services, and facilities are built or modified so that they can be used by people of all abilities
Reasonable Accommodations - ex: Braille, large print, or audio books, American Sign Language interpreter
Assistive technologies - low-tech device, such as a magnifying glass, to a high tech device, such as a computer that talks and helps someone communicate, wheelchairs, walkers, and scooters, which are mobility aids

Policy and Legislation

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973external icon is a federal law that protects individuals from discrimination based on disability.\
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990external icon, as amended, protects the civil rights of people with disabilities, and has helped remove or reduce many barriers for people with disabilities
People with Disabilities and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Section 1557 - prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics), in covered health programs or activities