BMJ  2003;327:882-883 (18 October), doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7420.882

Editorial

Equality for people with disabilities in medicine

Time for action and partnerships

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

As a result of our advances in medical science and technology more lives are being saved than ever before, although many people who are saved from death are left disabled. Add to this the expansion of the ageing population, in whom the prevalence of physical impairments is highest, and disability emerges as a major facet of modern society—one in four people in the United Kingdom has a disability or is closely associated with someone who has.1 Disability has become part and parcel of our human experience. By definition, therefore, the challenges facing citizens with disabilities are now a major "mainstream issue," both for society in general and for the medical profession in particular.

Yet several reports and studies indicate that doctors commonly fail to identify and tackle disability issues.2-6 Why is it that health professionals often seem unwilling or unable to engage with people with disabilities?

One reason may be . . . [Full text of this article]

Stewart Mercer, Senior clinical research fellow

General Practice and Primary Care, Division of Community-based Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 0RR

Paul Dieppe, director MRC HSRC

Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 2PR

Ruth Chambers, head

Stoke-on-Trent Teaching Primary Care Trust Programme, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 4LX

Rhona MacDonald, editor Career Focus

BMJ (rmacdonald@bmj.com)


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Equality for people with disabilities in medicine
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This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Rubin, P. (2003). Equality for people with disabilities in medicine. BMJ 327: 1051-1051 [Full text]  

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Missing link to career focus article
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