Gynecologic Care and Sexuality Issues for Women with Disabilities

Approximately ten percent of the world's population has a disability. In the United States, it is estimated that there are 43 million disabled people and roughly 30% of them are women. There is often limited physical and structural access to health care for disabled women. As young girls, women with disabilities are often told that marriage is not a possibility, which can lead to feelings of asexuality. Barriers to contraception for women with disabilities may be twofold; attitudinal as well as knowledge based. Sexually transmitted disease detection and prompt management interventions may be hampered by a number of factors. Women with disabilities that become pregnant have identical issues in many ways as compared with nondisabled women. Fertility and sexuality are closely intertwined. As a woman with a disability undergoes an infertility evaluation, her sexuality as well as identity as a woman may be threatened. Disabled women are living longer and are reaching the age of menopause while remaining active and involved in their family life, social life, and in the workforce.