Beyond the Rhetoric: Bridging the Maternal Healthcare Gap for Women with Disabilities

The 2025 International Women’s Day theme, “Accelerate Action,” is a rallying cry for swift and decisive steps toward gender equality. Yet, for many women with disabilities, including those from underrepresented groups, such as women with deafblindness, the right to accessible maternal care remains an afterthought.

The intersection of disability and motherhood presents compounded barriers that are often overlooked in European healthcare systems. From inaccessible medical facilities and equipment—such as mammography machines, examination tables, and radiation therapy—to the lack of accessible restrooms and showers, the challenges are persistent and systemic.

Beyond these physical barriers, mothers with disabilities must also navigate a world that is structurally and socially unaccommodating. They face not only the daily demands of parenting but also judgment, discouragement, and exclusion from systems that should support them.

This International Women’s Day, the ASSIST Project issues a powerful call to national governments and the European Union: It is time to build a truly inclusive maternal care system. Policies and practices must evolve to ensure that every woman can experience motherhood, as outlined in international conventions and human rights frameworks, such as the CRPD and other global charters.

Accelerating action means dismantling these barriers now—not later. The time for change is today.