Health Disparities and People with Disabilities

This article from the BBC reports on the British Disability Rights Commission's decision to open an inquiry into health disparities involving people with learning disabilities and psychiatric disabilities. According to the article,

The DRC says that initial research shows that:

• People with learning disabilities are four times more likely to die as a result of a preventable condition
• People with diagnosed schizophrenia die, on average, nine years before the rest of the population
• Fewer than 20 percent of learning disabled women attend cervical screening
• People with learning disabilities are 58 times more likely to die before the age of 50

The DRC is anxious to determine the causes of these health inequalities and will make recommendations about how they can be reduced when it reports in 18 months' time.