Women with disabilities denounce the fact that they do not have access to appropriate care, a situation which threatens their health in addition to putting them in degrading positions.
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“It’s full of little traumas,” summarizes Marjorie Aunos.
The 46-year-old psychologist and lecturer lost all sensation and muscle control in much of her body following a car accident twelve years ago.
Now in a wheelchair, the mother of a thirteen-year-old boy had all the trouble in the world finding a gynecologist who could replace his IUD, for example.
Table too high, rooms too small, poorly trained staff. She ended up being examined in a supply room with five people, four of them men: two who held her legs.
“I had lost my dignity. I would have preferred not to find myself in this situation. I cried,” she confides.
Prejudices
At 37, Sarah Limoges simply does not have a gynecologist, due to a lack of an accessible clinic.
“A wheelchair doesn’t fit in the rooms, not even the toilets,” describes the social worker who has suffered from severe juvenile arthritis since the age of four.
This is without taking into account the prejudices.
“When my family doctor asked me if I had a sex life, he checked no. He left with prejudices, I had to catch him,” she illustrates.
She now worries about not being able to have a mammogram, despite a history in the family.
“Am I going to go under the radar because our health system can’t accommodate us?” she asks.
Marjorie Aunos had to do it three times in six weeks.
“I had to stand on the machine, but I couldn’t put my hands in certain places. It was dangerous, I could have fallen,” she explains.
Photo Agence QMI, JOEL LEMAY
After two attempts and inconclusive images, the doctors had to turn to a breast ultrasound.
Lack of access
The Spinal Cord and Motricity Quebec organization estimates that such situations could affect 600,000 women in the province.
“Access to care is difficult for disabled people in general. For women, it’s even worse. It’s a daily frustration,” notes Walter Zelaya, general director of the organization for 20 years.
He asks that Quebec set up at least one accessible clinic per region, so that women can have access to basic care.
“Right now, it’s like the third world,” he says.