Access to Healthcare Issues for LGBTQIA+ People with Disabilities
The following is research from The Pride Study published July 21, 2023.
What Did We Do?
There is limited knowledge about the barriers that LGBTQIA+ people with disabilities experience while accessing healthcare. Among participants in The PRIDE Study who reported that they live with a disability, we looked at responses from The PRIDE Study’s 2019 Annual Questionnaire regarding access to healthcare (such as having a primary care provider, having health insurance, etc.), delaying healthcare, and insurance coverage.
What Was New, Innovative, or Notable?
This is one of the first studies about the barriers to healthcare experienced by the LGBTQIA+ disability community.
What Did We Learn?
In our study, we found that about 31% of LGBTQIA+ people lived with a disability. This was higher than national estimates of about 25%. LGBTQIA+ people with disabilities were more likely to have a primary care provider compared to their non-disabled peers. However, LGBTQIA+ people with disabilities experienced more barriers to healthcare. Specifically, LGBTQIA+ people with disabilities were more likely to delay seeking care, to not have health insurance, and to be unable to obtain care. When we looked at these barriers by different disability groups (physical, mental, intellectual, etc.), they were relatively similar. This tells us that many LGBTQIA+ people with disabilities may experience some sort of healthcare barrier.
We found that LGBTQIA+ people with disabilities delayed seeking care because of mistreatment or disrespect they experienced from providers. They were also denied care or given lower quality medical or mental healthcare compared to those without disabilities.
What Does This Mean for Our Communities?
The findings of this study suggest that barriers to healthcare are happening more often for LGBTQIA+ people with disabilities compared to their non-disabled peers. This means that increasing culturally sensitive training for healthcare providers is necessary to improve the quality of care for LGBTQIA+ people with disabilities. The results showed that addressing appointment availability, the cost of care, insurance coverage, and transportation issues are important items for those who make healthcare policy to focus on. This may improve care for LGBTQIA+ people with disabilities.
What’s Next?
The results of this study can help identify improve public health and healthcare systems by improving access and the quality of care for people in the LGBTQIA+ community. Future work should explore the different experiences of separate groups of people in the LGBTQIA+ disability community. It would also be important to analyze the relationship between health insurance and experiencing barriers to care.
Action Steps
See http://www.pridestudy.org/
If you are interested in conducting research related to LGBTQIA+ health, please learn more about collaborating with The PRIDE Study at http://pridestudy.org/
Citation
Lamba S, Obedin-Maliver J, Mayo J, Flentje A, Lubensky ME, Dastur Z, Lunn MR. Self-Reported Barriers to Care among Sexual and Gender Minority People with Disabilities: Findings from The PRIDE Study. AJPH. 2023 July, 20: e1-e10. https://ajph.aphapublications.
PS: Want to contribute to research specifically for the disability community around sex? I’m collecting data! This survey is open through the end of July 2023.