Accessibility for parents with disability: fact or fantasy? Amy Zahra

Amy Zahra, Disability Studies

Article 9 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) affirms the right of disabled people to accessibility in all spheres of life, including the right of access to venues, properties, facilities, provision of goods and services for persons with disability.

The right to found a family is also affirmed in Article 23 of the UNCRPD. Malta ratified the UNCRPD in 2012 and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability Act (Chap. 627) was passed by Parliament in August 2021.

Long before that, the same rights were also enshrined in the Equal Opportunities Act (Chap. 413) which was passed by parliament in 2000.

Notwithstanding these rights enshrined in legislation, persons with disability who decide to have a family still encounter a number of obstacles when accessing services, facilities and activities related to this phase in life (Azzopardi Lane, 2021; Callus & Azzopardi-Lane, 2016).

Research carried out in Europe and the US shows that a number of services related to pregnancy do not always include or accommodate disabled women’s access requirements (Iezzoni et al., 2015; Malouf et al., 2017; Mitra et al., 2016).

The situation is not very different in Malta: the lack of accommodations, including accessible parking, accessible facilities, accessible equipment such as weighing scales for mothers who use a wheelchair and height-adjustable examining tables, and accessible information particularly for mothers with a visual impairment, hearing impairment or an intellectual impairment...

Some mothers with a physical impairment also find that in the maternity environment, that is in the few days before and after giving birth, some basic facilities in hospitals such as showers, toilets and baths are inaccessible.

Disabled parents also often find it harder to access sources of support during family planning, pregnancy, maternity and child-rearing for reasons such as inaccessible environments, negative attitudes and structural disadvantages (Parchomiuk, 2014).

The need for support is even greater for parents with intellectual disability who are at a higher risk of having their children taken away from them (Callus & Azzopardi-Lane, 2016). As the babies grow, parents with disability also realise that most of the services and activities aimed towards their children are inaccessible for them. Most ‘mother and baby’ clubs and organised activities for children and parents are held in inaccessible venues with long flights of steps, making such services inaccessible for parents – both mothers and fathers – with disability.

Examples include extracurricular activities for children where a parent needs to accompany the child, venues for children’s parties and doctor’s appointments.

Another example is the baby-changing stations in toilets, which are not accessible for parents with disability who use a wheelchair since they are too high.

Research shows that a minority of women with disability do have positive experiences when it comes to pregnancy, childbirth and child-rearing (e.g. Hall et al., 2018).

Most of them cite that a person-centred approach was adopted, with their requirements being accommodated on a case-by-case basis. Although this is welcomed, the problem with this approach is that not all parents might feel empowered enough to put forward their needs and requirements at every stage of parenthood and some might miss out on important milestones.

Since we do have legislation catering for these rights, the onus of responsibility should fall on the service provider.

References

Azzopardi-Lane, C. (2021, May 6). Disabled mothers and parenting benchmarks. Times of Malta. 

Callus, A. M., & Azzopardi-Lane, C. (2016). Disability and parenting - The experiences of four women with disability. Considering Disability. 

Equal Opportunities (Persons with Disability) Act, Cap. 413 (2000). 

Hall, J., Hundley, V., Collins, B., & Ireland, J. (2018). Dignity and respect during pregnancy and childbirth: a survey of the experience of disabled women. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 18 (328).

Iezzoni, L. I., Wint, A. J., Smeltzer, S. C., & Ecker, J. L. (2015). Physical accessibility of routine prenatal care for women with mobility disability. Journal of Women’s Health, 24 (12), 1006-1012

Malouf, R., Henderson, J., & Redshaw, M. (2017). Access and quality of maternity care for disabled women during pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period in England: Data from a national survey. British Medical Journal Open, 7. 

Mitra, M., Long-Bellil, L. M., Iezzoni, L. I., Smeltzer, S. C., & Smith, L. D. (2016). Pregnancy among women with physical disabilities: Unmet needs and recommendations on navigating pregnancy. Disability and Health Journal, 9 (3), 457-463.

Parchomiuk, M. (2014). Social context of disabled parenting. Sexuality and Disability, 32 (2), 231-242.

United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, (2006). 

United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, Cap. 627 (2021).