Pandemic causes health decline in almost 60 percent of women with disability

By comparison, 42 percent of women overall who responded to the survey reported a decline in their physical health and 46 percent saw a decline in their mental health.

Jean Hailes for Women’s Health, a national not-for-profit health and research organisation, has released its annual National Women’s Health Survey as part of Women’s Health Week this week, bringing together data from more than 14,000 women and gender-diverse people.

One in ten respondents identified as a person with disability, and those with disability reported worse outcomes in a range of areas compared to women without a disability.

This included 34 percent of women with disability saying their mental health stopped them from taking part in everyday activities, compared with 21 percent of women without disability.

An appointment with a doctor or other health professional was also unaffordable for 62 percent of women with disability, compared to 44 percent of women without disability.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Jean Hailes for Women’s Health, Janet Michelmore AO, says the results of the survey show women with disability have been the “hardest hit” during the pandemic.

“At the beginning of the pandemic, Damian Barr wrote a poem lamenting ‘We are in the same storm, but not in the same boat,’ and I think that sums up this year’s findings,” says Ms Michelmore.

“The results have laid bare the scale of the impact on a group of women who were already dealing with challenges almost every day of their lives, none more so than women with disability.”

Despite other research showing the negative effects the pandemic has had on various groups of people, Ms Michelmore says the results of the Women’s Health Survey were still unexpected.

“I, and many other researchers, thought there would be a significant recovery by now, but we can’t see that in this data because the pandemic continues to disrupt many aspects of our lives,” she says.

“We haven’t seen the bounce back in physical or mental health we were expecting to see by now.

“The findings were alarming and we need to work together now to protect the health of women with disabilities during the pandemic era and beyond.”

Although Ms Michelmore did not have all the answers for how to protect the health of women with disability going forward, 40 percent of survey respondents overall did suggest access to free or more affordable childcare or respite care would help.

Advocates have also been calling for a national strategy to address the health of all people with disability as COVID-19 continues to be widespread in the community.

A response to the issue of Long COVID, which is continuing to affect more and more Australians months after their initial COVID-19 infection, has also been called for.