ACB article on disability rights

The Savvy Senior
By Robert Goodman, MSW

 
Have you ever contacted a health care facility as a new patient and the receptionist asks you to bring someone with you to complete the paperwork?   Have you ever had a staff person ask you your medical history in the waiting room where other patients are sitting?.  Have doctors and other medical staff ever spoken to you in a disrespectful or patronizing manner?
Thanks to medical advances seniors are living longer. The number of people with visual impairments such as macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy will increase with age. Blindness and vision loss affects millions of people from every economic status and educational background. 
Patient’s rights cover such topics as access to care, patient dignity, confidentiality, and consent to treatment. Many people with visual impairments are not aware of their rights when receiving medical care or afraid to assert them. Many seniors are unable to access information on their rights to computer illiteracy. Many healthcare providers don’t know how to interact with people with disabilities and are unaware of the requirements under Federal law.
Patients with disabilities have some additional rights under two different laws: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. These laws guarantee that people with disabilities will have the same access to health care and other services as people without disabilities.
The ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, State and local government, public accommodations, commercial facilities, transportation, and telecommunications
To be protected by the ADA, one must have a disability or have a relationship or association with an individual with a disability. An individual with a disability is defined by the ADA as a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a person who has a history or record of an impairment, or a person who is perceived by others as having such an impairment. The ADA does not specifically name all of the impairments that are covered.
Title III of the ADA covers businesses and nonprofit service providers that are used by the public. These include hospitals, urgent care centers, doctor’s offices, nursing homes and home health agencies.
Health care services must provide equal treatment in the way they serve patients with disabilities. This means removing barriers in existing buildings where it is easy to do so without much difficulty or expense.
Patients with visual disabilities have the right to have any written materials either read to them or given to them in an alternate format such as large print, Braille or on audio. This includes assistance with filling out paperwork, having hospital admission booklets, home health agency information, doctor’s orders, and discharge plans available in a format that is accessible to the patient.
The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 has similar protections for patients with disabilities. This law applies to Federal, state and local government and to any non-profit organization or health care provider that received federal funds such as Medicare and Medicaid.
To file a complaint under these laws make note of the date, time and location of the discriminatory act, the name of the person spoken to and their response upon requesting a reasonable accommodation. For more information on a person’s rights under these laws or to file a complaint log onto www.ada.gov.
Learn more about your rights and how to improve healthcare outcomes and services at our workshop on patient rights under the ADA and Rehabilitation Act at our national convention on July 6th. Stay tuned for more details.