This promises to be a big, complicated, multi-faceted section of the library. There are SO many topics of relevance to be covered.
We need to talk about the experiences of disabled people in hospitals and doctors offices, everywhere from the big urban centres to the far-flung frozen north.
We need to talk about the social determinants of health: what they are and how often they’re taken into account (or not!) in our healthcare systems.
We need to talk about Direct Funding programs vs. systems of care that put other people in charge of supports for daily living.
We need to talk about equipment funding, and what to do if there isn’t any in your area.
We need to talk about housing!! Income supports!! Basic stress relief!
We need to talk about end-of-life planning. Or do we?
We need to understand more about what palliative care is and what it is not, how easy or hard it is to access, how “dying” we need to be before we can get it, that sort of thing. Can a person who’s not dying, just living with really troublesome symptoms like pain or incontinence or anxiety, qualify for a palliative consultation?
And we need to ask this important question: Is making a person dead really taking care of their health? How did making a person dead become a “right” in every provincial and territorial healthcare system in the country, whereas pain relief and suicide prevention remain optional and chronically underfunded?
And so many more topics. Please participate in building this part of the library!
RESOURCES:
Disability Inclusion: An Introduction to Ableism in Medical Education and Health Care – An online course offered by the American Medical Association
“Addressing ableism in health care will require a multi-layered approach. It will necessitate advocating for equitable policies and changes on a structural level. It will require institutions to examine how ableist notions create barriers to inclusion and identify ways to revise policies to remove these barriers. It will call for individuals to examine their own potential biases around disability. And most importantly, the efforts must be centered on the expertise of individuals with disabilities.”
The Journal of Ethics in Mental Health published a special issue devoted to about 30 articles and responses about assisted dying in the context of mental health care. Each article can be read and downloaded as a pdf document. Articles date back to 2016 and go up to February, 2022
DAWN Canada and the Learning Network published an excellent on-line pamphlet on:
WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES AND D/dEAF WOMEN, HOUSING, AND VIOLENC
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES AND D/dEAF WOMEN
SELF-IDENTIFIED WOMEN BECOMING DISABLED THROUGH VIOLENCE
A MODEL FOR ACCESSIBLE AND INCLUSIVE SHELTERS
Use the National Accessibility and Accommodation Survey (NAAS) to audit the accessibility of your spaces
Read the report Women with Disabilities and Abuse: Access to Supports by DAWN Canada.
ORGANIZATIONS PLAYING A LEADERSHIP ROLE IN ENDING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES AND D/dEAF WOMEN!
FOR FULL REFERENCE LIST, VISIT:
http://www.vawlearningnetwork.ca/issue-27-women- disabilities-and-ddeaf-women-housing-and-violence
Disability Hate Crimes: Does anyone really hate disabled people? — a Book by Mark Sherry of the University of Toledo, Ohio.
DisAbling Women and Girls in Austere Times — an article by Deborah Stienstra
https://journals.msvu.ca/index.php/atlantis/article/view/5330
This article in itself is excellent, but the resource list that the author draws upon is extensive and impressive.
A UK podcast series on the topic of “assisted death” as it relates to women. 11 episodes as at April 5, 2025, several of them featuring Canadian people and situations. https://theotherhalf.uk/podcast