Introduction: The WHO estimates that 16% of the world population (1.3 billion) has a significant disability. As the global population of people with disabilities (PWD) increases and ages, the percentage of this vulnerable population will increase. During disaster preparedness planning, the special needs of PWD must be considered. The key aim of this project was to identify barriers to access to healthcare for PWD in Region IX of the US (AZ, CA, Guam, HI, 21.1% reported barriers to making modifications so PWD could receive COVI-19 care during the pandemic; about one-half (49.3%) of HCWs used telehealth to care for PWD, and of these, 43.2% experienced difficulties with telehealth processes and technology. PWD (N = 329) also reported severe challenges. One-quarter (24.9%) reported needing modifications to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, and of these, 34.1% encountered barriers to receiving a COVID-19 vaccination. During the pandemic, more than half (55.5%) of PWD used telehealth services, and 22.7% reported problems with using the telehealth technology. Overall challenges for healthcare access included inadequate facility accessibility, lack of adaptive exam equipment and furniture, short encounter time, communication technology problems, lack of transportation, and low HCW knowledge about caring for PWD. Conclusion: Understanding these needs and barriers can inform future planning to ensure PWDs have equitable healthcare access during all disaster events.
Qureshi et al. (Sun,) studied this question.