Disabled people’s experiences of social disparities in cancer care

Sakellariou, Dikaios ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2668-2834 and Anstey, Sally ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2295-3761 2019. Disabled people’s experiences of social disparities in cancer care. Presented at: 8th Annual Conference of ALTER – European Society for Disability Research, Cologne, Germany, 5-6 September 2019.

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Abstract

Access to healthcare is a multifaceted issue. For services to be accessible, they need to be available, affordable, relevant, physically accessible, and acceptable to service users, including disabled people. There is increasing evidence that disabled people face problems in several of these dimensions, leading to inequities in access. In this paper, we explore the experiences of disabled people with physical impairments in the United Kingdom as they access cancer services, from screening to therapy and follow-up. Our aim is to explore what happens when people with physical impairments seek to access cancer services and to investigate the nature of any problems they face. Using empirical data from an interview-based study conducted in the United Kingdom, we treat each participant as a case study, showcasing different aspects of engaging with cancer services. We argue that disabled people often have to navigate a healthcare system that demonstrates lack of awareness regarding their needs, leading to negative experiences of care. We suggest that the experiences of disabled people represent forms of microaggressions inflicted on them. The clinical encounter is a main arena where aggressions, such as the invisibilisation of needs, are experienced. Aggressions are also experienced at the broader, systemic level and can restrict disabled people’s access to quality healthcare.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Healthcare Sciences
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) R Medicine > R Medicine (General) R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Date of Acceptance:	1 June 2019
Last Modified:	06 Sep 2024 12:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/133902

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