Definition
A barrier to physical healthcare access is any component of healthcare provision that negatively impacts the healthcare service access of autistic people. Conversely, facilitators are components of healthcare provision that improve the healthcare service access of autistic people. Barriers that affect the physical healthcare access of autistic people include communication, health professional’s knowledge about autism, sensory sensitivities, and cognitive factors (Mason et al. 2019). Brief information is given below about these factors, with examples; more information is contained in the referenced papers.
Autistic people’s communication style (e.g., difficulty describing symptoms, particularly those that involve abstract concepts or hyper-specific language) can be a barrier to healthcare provision (Nicolaidis et al. 2015). Moreover, some autistic people may not provide key information unless questions directly ask for this information (Bradshaw et al. 2019). But it is...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References and Reading
Bradshaw, P., Pellicano, E., van Driel, M., & Urbanowicz, A. (2019). How can we support the healthcare needs of autistic adults without intellectual disability? Current Developmental Disorders Reports, 6(2), 45–56.
Mason, D., Ingham, B., Urbanowicz, A., Michael, C., Birtles, H., Woodbury-Smith, M., … Nicolaidis, C. (2019). A systematic review of what barriers and facilitators prevent and enable physical healthcare services access for autistic adults. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 8, 3387–3400.
Morris, R., Greenblatt, A., & Saini, M. (2019). Healthcare providers’ experiences with autism: A scoping review. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 49(6), 2374–2388.
Nicolaidis, C., Raymaker, D. M., Ashkenazy, E., McDonald, K. E., Dern, S., Baggs, A. E., … Boisclair, W. C. (2015). “Respect the way I need to communicate with you”: Healthcare experiences of adults on the autism spectrum. Autism, 19(7), 824–831.
Raymaker, D. M., McDonald, K. E., Ashkenazy, E., Gerrity, M., Baggs, A. M., Kripke, C., … Nicolaidis, C. (2017). Barriers to healthcare: Instrument development and comparison between autistic adults and adults with and without other disabilities. Autism, 21(8), 972–984.
Unigwe, S., Buckley, C., Crane, L., Kenny, L., Remington, A., & Pellicano, E. (2017). GPs’ confidence in caring for their patients on the autism spectrum: An online self-report study. The British Journal of General Practice, 67(659), e445–e452.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature
About this entry
Cite this entry
Mason, D., Ingham, B., Parr, J. (2020). Barriers and Facilitators that Prevent and Enable Physical Healthcare Services Access for Autistic Adults. In: Volkmar, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102450-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102450-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6435-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6435-8
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences