Recommendations to Reduce COVID-19 Health Disparities Among the Disability Community in Pennsylvania

Disability Matters with Joyce Bender

Tuesday, September 19, 2023

#AdvocacyMatters

Recommendations to Reduce COVID-19 Health Disparities Among the Disability Community in Pennsylvania

Last week, The Arc of Pennsylvania released a report to help the Pennsylvania Department of Health address disparities among people with disabilities. The report was 2 years in the making and involved more than 400 partners statewide, including Disability Rights Pennsylvania.

The Arc of Pennsylvania received funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Health through the CDC’s National Initiative to Address COVID-19 Health Disparities Among Populations at Hight Risk. The goal was to investigate, educate, and report on problems that people with disabilities in Pennsylvania faced while accessing information and help during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report focused on 10 core solutions. Each written solution came with a video of a person with a disability speaking to the problem and recommendation.

1) Involve people with disabilities, their families, and caregivers in policy making and healthcare decisions.

2) Reactive the Governor’s Cabinet and Advisory Committee for People with Disabilities.

3) Keep helpful policy changes learned and implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic.

4) Expand community-based healthcare, including telehealth services and mobile clinics.

5) Include disability representatives in the Office of Health Equity Advisory Committee.

6) Provide disability-specific training for healthcare professionals.

7) Designate people with disabilities as a Medically Underserved Population.

8) Collect standardized data on the health needs of people with disabilities.

9) Provide information in multiple languages, easy-to-understand and easy to access formats.

10) Remove disability as a factor in healthcare decisions made during emergencies.

#AdvocacyMatters

Advocates know that the barriers discussed in the report did not just arise during the COVID-19 pandemic. These are barriers that have always existed. It is important that advocates across the country review the report and use the solutions to address health care disparities in your communities.

To view the report in English, Spanish, and Chinese visit www.disabilityrightspa.org. Click on today’s #AdvocacyMatters segment that is found in the middle of our home page. There you will find a link to The Arc’s report and all of the information we reviewed today. That website is www.disabilityrightspa.org.

Links

Report – “Recommendations for Addressing COVID-19 Health Disabilities Among the Disability Community” https://thearcpa.org/healthcare-initiatives/

The Arc of Pennsylvania Press Release

https://thearcpa.org/disability-community-involvement-key-to-solving-health-disparities/