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Promoting High-Quality, Accessible Cancer Care for People With Disabilities

Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: People with disabilities (PWD) face numerous challenges throughout the continuum of cancer care. Many of these are due to personal and structural biases that have historically made it more difficult for PWD to access oncologic care and which can be dehumanizing. We provide a narrative review of these challenges, starting with a review of disability statistics and methodologic considerations when reviewing the epidemiology of disability. We then discuss historic legal frameworks designed to support PWD, and barriers to oncology care faced by PWD, organized around the following primary topics: (1) biases faced by PWD from health care professionals, (2) screening, (3) diagnosis, (4) treatment, (5) survivorship, and (6) historical exclusion from oncology research. We conclude by identifying key areas that must be addressed to provide high-quality oncologic care for PWD. A variety of suggestions for addressing these issues are presented, including additional education of oncology providers, rethinking performance status, engaging stakeholders in the disability community, improving enrollment in clinical trials for PWD, and collecting consistent disability-related data.
DOI: 10.1200/op-26-00656
Authors: Sean Smith, Maggie Salinger, Rebecca A. Spence, Ash B. Alpert, Deborah B. Doroshow, Leila Hamroun-Yazid, Yara Abdou, Samilia Obeng-Gyasi, Lori J. Pierce
Institutions: University of Michigan, Michigan Medicine, Brown University, American Society of Clinical Oncology, Yale Cancer Center, Yale University, Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, The Ohio State University
Language: English
Subfield: Safety Research
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W7221702689
FWCI:
Cites: 52
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