Women with disabilities and access to gynaecological services in Poland

There is little data on the access of women with disabilities to gynaecological services in Central and Eastern Europe, where the shaping of public policies towards disability has been dominated by medical approaches and has not taken into account the complexity and intersectional character of the phenomenon. The aim of the article is to examine the challenges faced by women with disabilities in accessing and using gynaecological care services in Poland. A participatory, qualitative study was conducted, in which 23 women with disabilities participated. The data was collected using structured in-depth interviews. The results suggest that disability causes multilevel difficulties in the access of women to gynaecological care. The misguided organisation of the support system leads to disability-based disparity in health system responsiveness as it lacks the flexibility and responsiveness to meet the special needs of women with disabilities.