When making small talk, we often fall back on weather and health. Health genuinely matters, and it's right to care about it. Yet staying well, getting regular medical checkups—these are far from assured for many people, and much harder still for those with disabilities. Especially when intellectual or communication difficulties make someone less or unable to "cooperate" with standard care protocols.
A December 2022 World Health Organization report on health equity for people with disabilities opened with observations that, evidently, still cannot be taken for granted: "Disability is an integral part of human experience. People with disabilities are part of human diversity and, though often referred to as a single population, are a highly heterogeneous group. People with disabilities have the same right as any other person to the highest attainable standard of health." A standard we are not pursuing vigorously enough. The report found that people with disabilities have life expectancies twenty years lower than their non-disabled peers (if male) or fifteen years lower (if female).
That figure wounds us because premature death in these cases is not caused by disability itself. Rather, it stems from inadequate attention to their ordinary health needs. The report names these openly: "avoidable, inequitable, and unjust factors" that demand remedy. In this issue's focus section, we have given space to those who have lived and live with this disparity, and to the effective practices already underway in our country. This is not about seeking "special treatment." It is about creating attentiveness and building pathways that actually work. Because health is a human right for everyone.
English version: Why health really matters