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Get the Facts on Women With IDD and Cervical and Breast Cancer Screening

Caregivers Report Many Barriers to Life Saving Screenings

A recent study in the journal Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities titled, Family Caregivers’ Perspectives on Barriers and Facilitators of Cervical and Breast Cancer Screening for Women with Intellectual Disability found that family caregivers often did not realize the importance of regular cervical and breast cancer screenings for women with IDD. These lifesaving screenings are important for ALL women, and this study clearly shows that we need to do more to increase awareness and reduce barriers to breast and cervical cancer screening for women with disabilities.

Through the Arc’s HealthMeet® project, we will survey women with IDD about their frequency of breast and cervical screening as part of the larger health assessments that will be conducted in 2013 in 5 states across the country. The data collected during the health assessments will further inform the disability and health care field about women’s access to the these critical screenings. We must do better to protect the health and lives of women with IDD.

For more information about breast and cervical cancer in women with disabilities, visit the CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities page for women with disabilities.