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• Posted December 11, 2024

'Ableism' Prevents Many Americans From Getting Mental Health Care

Ableism, or prejudice against people with disabilities, is an established problem in general healthcare. Now, a small study shows those same issues persist in mental healthcare.

Sometimes, the barriers to care are physical, such as inaccessible entrances or a lack of reliable transit. Other times, the hurdles are informational, such as hard-to-use online patient portals.

"Participants identified ableism as a major concern when they talked about their experiences in seeking mental health services," said study author Katie Wang, a social psychologist and associate professor at the Yale School of Public Health in New Haven, Conn.

Some 25% of Americans live with disabilities, and many face greater mental health issues and are more likely to need counseling and medication.

But are they getting that care? Maybe not.

In the study, 20 disabled participants, who ranged in age from 22 to 67, had mobility problems (such as spinal cord injury), sight issues, chronic health conditions or a mixture of disabilities alongside mental health conditions.

The researchers unearthed several recurring themes that exacerbated care for these folks: not understanding how much disability can harm mental health, not paying enough attention to the link between mental health and disability and unwittingly causing emotional pain during treatment.

Researchers also found that being Black or transgender in addition to being disabled presented additional barriers to receiving care.

"These individuals often struggle with receiving professional help, yet little research exists on the issue," Wang noted in a Yale news release.

The findings were published in the December issue of SSM - Qualitative Research in Health.

"Even well-intentioned mental healthcare providers can perpetuate ableism, given that they are working in a fundamentally ableist system,” Wang added. “These results underscore the importance of emphasizing disability competency when training the next generation of mental health providers."

The researchers called for systemic reforms for providers, such as increased training on understanding disability, as well as the recruitment and retainment of disabled medical faculty and students.

What can providers do themselves to improve things?

They can start by educating themselves about disabilities and being more flexible in how they offer care, the researchers said.

“I think what we want to be careful of, and what a lot of participants were warning against, is we should not be thinking of telehealth as a silver bullet,” Wang said. “It does not fix accessibility across the board. It does not remove all access barriers. But having telehealth as an additional tool in the toolbox is definitely a benefit for the disability community.”

More information

The CDC has more on improving mental healthcare for disabled people.

SOURCE: Yale School of Public Health, news release, Dec. 9, 2024