Special Focus

Wellness and Disability
A study on the challenges of health and wellness faced by people with disabilities.
Conducted by Rehabilitation Research and Training Center Health and Wellness Consortium: OHSU

“Nobody would be sitting here unless we accommodated what we’re not able to do. We’re not able to get up to this floor unless we build stairs, and when we—society—puts out those efforts to sort of assist, then disability doesn’t exist.”

In this era of new age ideals, where organic food stores and yoga studios have emerged on busy street corners and in office buildings, there seems to be a return to a focus on health and wellness. The Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Health and Wellness Consortium: Oregon Health & Science University is taking a good look at what health and wellness means to people with disabilities. What they have found is that, for people with disabilities, health and wellness takes on a compounded challenge. When asked to define health and wellness, people in a study performed by the RRTC (all of whom were persons with long-term disabilities) noted that to them health and wellness meant several things:

Being able to function and being given the chance to do what they want to do.
Being independent, having self-determination regarding choices, opportunities, and activities.
Having physical and emotional states of well-being.
Not being held back by pain.

On the issue of wellness, one of the participants stated, “At the end of the day, if I feel like I’ve accomplished something and been able to meet--not necessarily set goals—but things I felt were important to accomplish, then I feel like I had a well day.”

Through this research, the RRTC found that people with disabilities face, not only the health and wellness issues that we all face, (having to go to the dentist or needing to work out,) but also some unique challenges that fluctuate based on individual abilities and the societal structure around them. One participant stated, “…you still have to cope with health and wellness issues that you would if you’re able bodied. I still have periodontal disease. I still have a heart problem…and [it’s] in conjunction with other problems that are normally associated with spinal cord injury, you know, pain, infection, ability to do things.” Like many, the people studied identified personal attitudes and overall mental outlook as one of the key factors that deeply affect overall quality of health. One participant stated, “I think it [having a disability] does affect your self-image. It almost always starts out to be a negative experience, you know. But, I think it can evolve into something that, you know, you’re proud—proud of your ability to get things off the top shelf in spite of your disability—things like that.” Through the study participants also identified coping strategies, contact with others with disabilities, physical activity and exercise, paid and volunteer work, and personal goals as ways to promote and maintain personal wellness.

Participants in the study stressed that community and societal attitudes play an integral role in providing necessary support. These society-based, external factors range from things as simple as being able to enter a bookstore downtown or stay at a nice hotel, to receiving financial relief for the cost of living with a disability, giving personal assistance services and tax credits, and improving insurance coverage for things such as alternative medicine, specialists and assistive technologies. Like all of us, the people in the study noted a desire to feel like they were valued and supported by family, friends, and health care providers.

In speaking with people with disabilities, this study has found that there are multiple factors that contribute to health and well-being. Some of these factors hinge on personal choice, on an ability to maintain a positive attitude, and others are societal challenges that must be met and overcome. RRTC on Health and Wellness recommends several strategies for meeting the health and wellness needs of people with disabilities. These recommendations include:

Providing access to public facilities.
Expanding the definitions of health for persons with disabilities.
Creating materials that would educate people with disabilities on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Providing training to health care providers on how to meet the needs of people with disabilities.

There is a great inter-connectedness between the individual with disabilities and the community as a whole. By taking these first steps, society can help in lightening the wellness challenge for people with disabilities by providing assistance and supports to meet the needs of all of its members.

Visit the RRTC Health and Wellness Consortium web site at www.healthwellness.org for more information about this program.

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