Access to Women’s Health Care Program for Women with Physical Disabilities
ICS’s Access to Women’s Health Care Program for Women with Physical Disabilities seeks to promote health care equity for women with physical disabilities by increasing access to women’s health care services, in collaboration with New York City medical facilities that serve the general public.
This goal is based on the belief that women with disabilities should have access to the same medical facilities as others; that those facilities should be able to provide the best possible care without seeing that care as something “extra,” over and above, and a burden; and that only by moving in this inclusive direction will women with disabilities finally receive the health care they need and to which the Americans with Disabilities Act gave them a basic legal right.
The first step in the process of developing a Women’s Health Program was the creation of ICS’s Breast Cancer Screening Project for Women with Physical Disabilities. A pilot project, it aimed to create and test a model to increase access and reduce barriers to breast cancer screening for women with physical disabilities. Now in its third year of funding from the Greater NYC Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure ®, ICS’s Breast Cancer Screening Project has been very successful. For more, go to:
Breast Cancer Screening Project Summary
2-Year Report on Breast Cancer Screening Project’s Preliminary Findings
“From Within” Women’s Wellness event photos and video of keynote speaker Judy Heumann
The Women’s Health Access Program also includes plans for:
- An Ob-Gyn Access Project
- A Women’s Health Policy Project
- A Disability Competency Training Project for Health Care Professionals, Support Staff and Students
- An Education and Empowerment Initiative for Women with Physical Disabilities
ICS seeks dedicated partners to help further develop and implement our pioneering Women’s Health Access Program. For more information, contact Marilyn Saviola, Women’s Program Director, at saviola@icsny.org or 212-584-2587, or Marissa Kaplan, Breast Cancer Screening Project Coordinator, at mkaplan@icsny.org or 212-420-6661.
