Literature Review on Provision of Appropriate and Accessible ...

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The authors suggested that one possible explanation for the higher
admission rates to neonatal intensive care or special care nursery
for babies of mothers with intellectual disability and/or self-reported
learning difficulties could be that staff perceptions of maternal ability
play a role in decisions about appropriate healthcare delivery.
Support to People with an Intellectual Disability who are
Accessible
and Appropriate of Provision on <strong>Review</strong> <strong>Literature</strong>
Experiencing Crisis Pregnancy
4.8 Provision of services
4.8.1 Antenatal care services
All pregnant women - irrespective of their disability status - are entitled
to receive the same range of free or affordable health care as provided to
other persons, including in the area of reproductive health and antenatal
care (UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006).
The literature acknowledges that there continue to be inadequacies in
relation to access to equitable healthcare for women with intellectual
disability, including pre- and post-natal care for mothers and their
infants (Llewellyn et al., 2008). Such disadvantage is frequently
accompanied by stigma and discrimination. According to a number of
authors, women with intellectual disability are likely to have difficulty
accessing quality antenatal care, given that health and social service
providers are generally ill-equipped to accommodate their special
learning needs (Beange et al., 1995; McConnell et al., 1997; Kapell et
al., 1998). In addition, staff perceptions of maternal ability play a role in
decisions made about appropriate healthcare delivery (McConnell et al.,
2008).
A positive finding from McConnell et al.’s investigation (2008a) is that
their study group participated in their first antenatal visit at around the
same time in pregnancy as their non-disabled peers and continued
their visits throughout their pregnancy (2008a: 534). However, Burgen’s
research (2008) demonstrated the opposite: there was delayed decisionmaking
and contact with services amongst her sample. Meanwhile, a
number of research studies involving women with intellectual disability
have demonstrated late recognition of pregnancy and a consequent
delayed decision-making around the pregnancy (Burgen, 2008; Mayes
et al., 2006). According to Alison Giraud-Saunders, Co-Director of the
Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities in the UK, there are
problems in many areas when it comes to supporting parents with