Discrimination May Lead Kids With Disabilities To Skip Doctor Visits

When children with disabilities experience discrimination, new research finds that the consequences may extend to their physical well-being.

A study looking at more than 24,000 kids with special health care needs found that 1 in 10 faced disability discrimination.

In those cases, children were twice as likely to go without needed health care, according to findings published recently in the journal Pediatrics.

The study is based on data collected through the National Survey of Children’s Health, a government survey of randomly selected households across the country.

“The association between forgone care and discrimination may represent either a form of discrimination, making access to care challenging for children with disability, or forgone care may be the result of alterations in health-seeking behavior due to discrimination and loss of trust,” said Dr. Stefanie G. Ames of the University of Utah School of Medicine who led the study.

In addition to missing out on needed health care, the study found that children who experienced disability discrimination were also at higher risk of emergency department visits and hospitalization.

“Efforts to reduce disability-based discrimination may improve health care access and emergency care use patterns for (children with special health care needs),” the study authors concluded.