Barriers that hinder women and girls with disabilities from accessing services

According to the World Health Organization, about 15% of the world, i.e. one billion people worldwide live with a disability. More than half of them are women with disabilities.

Women with disabilities face significantly more difficulties, in both public and private spheres, in attaining access to services such as: adequate housing, health, education, vocational training and employment. Women and girls with disabilities are also more likely to be isolated by being institutionalized. 

The rights of women with disabilities

Women and girls with disabilities have certain human rights enshrined in various international conventions and in various national laws. The United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) in 2006. More than 181 countries have ratified the UNCRPD, making it the accepted global standard for human rights for women and men with disabilities. Article 6 of the UNCRPD reinforces the rights of women with disabilities to attain the highest standards of service without discrimination. A number of countries have disability specific laws to protect the rights of woman and men with disabilities.

Barriers faced by women with disabilities in accessing services

Nearly everyone faces hardships and difficulties at one time or another. Women with disabilities are diverse and have varying needs, for example a woman with a visual disability will have different needs from a person who is deaf. The following are the key barriers that women with disabilities face:

• Unmet needs for health care

Persons with disabilities report seeking more health care than people without disabilities and have greater unmet needs. For example, a recent survey of people with serious mental impairments, showed that between 35% and 50% of people in developed countries, and between 76% and 85% in developing countries, received no treatment in the year prior to the study.

Health promotion and prevention activities rarely target people with disability. This is due to attitudinal reasons and misconceptions about disability. For example, women with disabilities receive less screening for breast and cervical cancer than women without disabilities. Women with intellectual disabilities are less likely to have their weight checked. Adolescents and adults with disability are more likely to be excluded from sex education programmes.

• Negative attitudes of people towards disability: - Negative attitudes and misconceptions about disability, are significant barriers that women with disabilities face. Women and girls with disabilities are particularly disadvantaged due to layers of stigma and discrimination. They are discriminated first due to their gender and then due to their disability. Many time service providers, such as medical health service providers do not understand disability, therefore they Negative attitudes often trigger many of the others types of barriers. Such attitudes are often reflected in beliefs that women with disabilities do not need service, they do not have families, they do not have reproductive health needs or statements such as “Why worry about women with disabilities, when ‘normal women’ cannot find jobs.”

• Policy and practices that are not disability inclusive: - Lack of a policy on disability inclusion and plan for implementation by both government and other organizations working in the development sector. Policies and procedures that are not based on non-discrimination end up excluding persons with disabilities.


• A physical environment that is not accessible: - Many venues where services are provided are physically in accessible. For instance, setting up a clinic on the second floor of a building where there is no lift, makes it difficult for a wheelchair user to access such a service.


• High cost of services: A good example is health care. Affordability of health services and transportation are two main reasons why people with disability do not receive needed health care services in low-income countries.


• Communication barriers – Inability of persons with disabilities to access information about services is one of the most common barriers that persons with disabilities face. This included digital technology and websites that are not accessible. There are many reports publications, news about services that are not made available to women and girls with disabilities.


• Inadequate skills and knowledge of health workers: Women with disability are more than twice as likely to report finding health care provider skills inadequate to meet their needs, four times more likely to report being treated badly and nearly three times more likely to report being denied care.


• Limited access to assistive devices /technology: Assistive technology refers to the systems and services related to the delivery of assistive products and services. Such products and services include: Hearing aids, wheelchairs, communication aids, spectacles, prostheses, pill organizers and memory aids. Persons with disabilities require such products in order to participate effectively in the community, in development activities and to be able to move and access services.


• Limited access to Assistive technology: Assistive technology enables women with disabilities to live healthy, productive, independent, and dignified lives, and to participate in education, the labour market and civic life. Without assistive technology, women with disabilities are often excluded, isolated, and locked into poverty, thereby increasing the impact of disease and disability on an individual, their family, and society. According to the World Health Organizations, today, only 1 in 10 people in need have access to assistive technology due to high costs and a lack of awareness, availability, trained personnel, policy, and financing.