Access to primary healthcare services by people with disabilities

Objective: to analyze the access of people with hearing, physical, and visual disabilities to primary healthcare services. Methods: a cross-sectional study was conduc-ted with 250 participants, and data collection was imple-mented in three stages: contact with the health depart-ment, locating the residences of persons with disabilities within the coverage area of the primary healthcare unit, and analysis of integrated data. Results: there was a pre-dominance of older individuals, individuals of non-white race/ethnicity, males, and those who were either married or in a consensual union. Self-transportation, including cars, motorcycles, or bicycles, was the primary means of access to services, followed by walking. Most indivi-duals sought health services within six months, followed by those who sought care between six months and one year, mainly because of chronic or worsening conditions. Conclusions: impaired access was identified, as eviden-ced by multiple barriers, including transportation, archi-tectural, and communication barriers. Contributions to practice: it is important to consider the disparities, vul-nerabilities, and health status of the disabled population in health care.