First Ever Guide to the Care
of Women with Disabilities
Now Available for Health Care Professionals
Washington, D.C. - While the health care community has
grown more sensitive to the health needs of the disabled, very little
information is available to guide their competent care. Filling that void
is a new resource book for physicians, nurses and other care providers
that addresses the unique challenges faced by disabled women who seek
routine medical care.
Welner's Guide to the Care of Women with Disabilities, edited by Sandra
Welner, M.D., and Florence Haseltine, Ph.D., M.D., offers practical advice
on fundamental issues such as physical examination, nutrition, exercise,
sexuality, victimization, and access to care, as well information on specific
disabilities such as neurological impairment, rheumatologic illness, blindness
and deafness.
The book provides guidance on managing medical problems that warrant special
consideration in disabled women: pain, osteoporosis, anesthesia, incontinence,
infertility, depression and psychotropics, substance abuse and hormonal
management.
Welner, the book's chief editor, was a disabled physician who suffered
a debilitating stroke while in medical school. She regained her independence
after five years of arduous neurological rehabilitation and dedicated
her career to improving care for disabled women. She died from accidental
causes in 2001.
"Dr. Welner had a vision that persons with disabilities need individualized
care," said Haseltine, who founded the Society for Women's Health
Research and now serves on its board of directors. "After she became
disabled, I knew her as a determined advocate for women's health. This
book incorporates her spirit, as well as her ideas."
Almost 30 million women in the United States are disabled, according to
the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research in the
U.S. Department of Education.
The guide is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Individuals
who order the book through the Society for Women's Health Research Web
site - www.womens-health.org - will receive a 10 percent discount.