Disability inclusive health became personal for me long before I had language for it. It started during an ordinary clinic shift in 2022, the kind that is usually uneventful until one patient changed how I understood care, dignity, and what it truly means to design a health system that sees everyone.
I had always believed I was sensitive, open-minded, and compassionate. But compassion is not the same thing as inclusivity. Inclusivity requires intention, not assumption. And that realization shifted the way I practice medicine forever.
A Moment That Reframed Everything I Thought I Knew About Care
A patient rolled in using a wheelchair. He was soft-spoken, observant, and patient with the long wait that morning. When I finally called them in, I realized the consulting table was too high. There was no ramp. The weighing scale wasn’t accessible. Even the bathroom door was narrow.
I started rearranging furniture, apologizing under my breath. He simply smiled and said, “Don’t worry, doctor. I’m used to making myself fit into places that weren’t built for me.”
That sentence has stayed with me till date. Not because it was dramatic, but because it was true.
We spoke for a long time not just about their physical symptoms, but about the emotional labor he carried every time he accessed healthcare: planning routes, worrying about stares, avoiding hospitals with stairs, rehearsing how to ask for help without seeming “demanding.”
That day, I realized inclusivity isn’t a poster or a slogan. It’s the small design choices, attitudes, and systems that either welcome a person or quietly push them out. That patient taught me more about disability inclusive health than any textbook ever did.
A Global Reality We Can No Longer Ignore
According to the World Health Organization, over 1.3 billion people worldwide live with some form of disability that’s one in six people.
This includes physical disabilities, sensory disabilities, intellectual disabilities, neurodivergence, mental health conditions, and chronic illnesses that limit daily function.
Yet the WHO also states that people with disabilities face significantly higher risks of poor health, limited access to care, preventable complications, and lower life expectancy not because their conditions are untreatable, but because the system is inaccessible.
Think about that: not lack of medicine not lack of skill. Lack of access, design & inclusion.
This is why disability inclusive health matters so deeply. It is not about special treatment. It is about equal treatment delivered with dignity.
What True Inclusivity Could Look Like in Health Systems
If we want to build a world that sees everyone, we must intentionally create a system that doesn’t require disabled people to fight for basic access. Inclusivity can look like:
• Accessible hospital design: ramps, wide doorways, adaptable beds, accessible restrooms, and signage that is readable for those with visual impairments.
• Quiet waiting rooms for people with sensory sensitivities or neurodivergence.
• Training healthcare workers to communicate respectfully, avoid assumptions, and understand that disability is not synonymous with helplessness.
• Providing interpreters for patients who are deaf or hard of hearing.
• Offering digital or home-based care options for people whose disabilities limit mobility.
• Ensuring medication instructions are available in multiple formats audio, large print, simplified text.
• Allowing caregivers or support persons to accompany patients without unnecessary restrictions.
These are not luxuries. They are the foundation of disability inclusive health, a system where people do not need to shrink themselves to be treated with dignity.
I’ve seen firsthand how small adjustments can completely change a patient’s healthcare experience. When people feel seen, they relax. When they feel respected, they speak honestly. And when they feel safe, their health outcomes improve. Inclusivity is not charity, it is good medicine.
Understanding the 2025 Theme: “Fostering Disability Inclusive Societies for Advancing Social Progress”
This year’s theme for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities feels especially timely. “Fostering disability inclusive societies for advancing social progress” is not just a goal, it is a responsibility.
We cannot claim progress if people are left behind. We cannot claim development if access remains uneven. We cannot claim dignity if entire groups still have to navigate systems that weren’t built for them.
A disability inclusive society respects autonomy.
It listens to disabled people rather than speaking over them.
It understands that accessibility is not an afterthought, it is a starting point.
It recognizes that disabled people are not a “minority group” to accommodate, but a significant part of the global population whose rights, needs, and contributions matter.
Most importantly, it understands this truth: disability is a natural part of the human experience, not an exception to it.
Ending stigma, increasing representation, improving infrastructure, and transforming healthcare systems are all parts of the same mission to create a world where disability does not determine the quality of one’s life.
Closing Reflection
When I think back to the patient who shifted my understanding, I realize they were not asking for special treatment. They were asking for fairness, for respect, for a world where healthcare rooms did not feel like battlefields.
Disability inclusive health is not about perfection, it’s about willingness; willingness to redesign, willingness to listen, willingness to change habits we didn’t notice were harmful, willingness to believe disabled people when they say a space, a system, or a practice excludes them.
As we mark this year’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities, may we commit to building systems where no one has to apologize for their needs, hide their struggles, or make themselves small to receive care.
A more inclusive world is possible. And it begins with the decision to see every person fully, respectfully, and without condition. Lets work together to build disability inclusive health system.
