36 chapter 2: Organizing for disability-friendly health care
Suggestions to make clinics and hospitals easier to use
Clinics or hospitals must:
• be nearby and there must be transport available to reach them.
• be easy to use for people who use wheelchairs or crutches, or have
difficulty walking.
• have ramps or lifts as well as stairs.
• have toilets that disabled women can use.
Clinics and hospitals must also have trained staff members who can communicate
effectively with people who are deaf or blind, or who have cerebral palsy, and
who can make sure that women who have learning difficulties understand what is
happening in the clinic.
Clinics and hospitals can:
• train everyone about disability.
• include women with disabilities as health workers
and staff members in clinics and hospitals.
A written list of your
health problems may
help you so you do
not forget!
• put handrails or ropes around the building so
that people who are blind or do not see well can
find their way inside safely.
• organize activities about health and women with
disabilities.
• provide monthly or regular counseling sessions for
women with disabilities.
• make it easy for women with disabilities to combine
as many appointments in different departments as
necessary during the same day they go to the clinic
or hospital. Some health centers allow village health
workers to make these appointments for women with
disabilities.
• make information on how to use health services easy to obtain and understand.
• provide health information in different languages.
• provide blind women with health information in Braille or on audio cassettes.
• encourage health workers to use simple, clear language and pictures to illustrate
what they are saying to women who have trouble learning or understanding.
• train health workers to communicate with women who have problems with
speaking clearly.
• train staff members in sign language so they can give health information to
deaf women.
A Health Handbook for Women with Disabilities 2007