Table 2 Summary of Barriers to and Facilitators of Effective Communication

 Lack of Policies and Guidelines

Lack of institutional policies and guidelines on communication accommodations/access in primary perinatal care and community care settings and in turn failure to provide communication accommodations and recognize barrier-free communication as a right

 Lack of Provider Experience

Providers’ lack of experience working with and knowledge about people with disabilities and their communication needs

 Lack of Provider Effort

Providers’ lack of effort to tailor or adapt information (or the delivery of information) to patients’ disability-related communication needs

 Ableism and Provider Assumptions

Providers’ negative assumptions about patients’ disabilities and their communication needs

 Knowledgeable, Aware, and Supportive Providers

Providers who were knowledgeable, aware, and supportive concerning patients’ disabilities and their communication needs

 Access to Communication Aids and Services

Provision or accessibility of ASL interpreters, braille resources, and alerting devices (e.g., auditory devices for blind/low vision persons and vibrating devices for d/Deaf persons)

 Information Tailored to Patients’ Disability-related Communication Needs

Providers who tailored information (or the delivery of information) to meet patients’ disability-related communication needs

 Empathic Communication

Providers who carefully listened to and understood patients’ needs and accommodated disability-related needs without fixating on them

 Communication among Providers

Communication among health and social service providers about patients’ disability-related communication needs