Menstruation can make sport participation prohibitive for women and girls, including a lack of access to period products at venues, but disability can add an additional layer of difficulty.
More than 21 per cent of women in Australia live with a disability, and only around 20 per cent of them participate in sport. Disabled girls and women notoriously struggle to access and participate in sport, and one could hazard a guess that periods and period management can contribute to this struggle.
A recent study, by Share the Dignity and Victoria University, looking at people involved in sport who menstruate, revealed several key findings that drive girls and women to skip sport when they have their period.
They included lack of access to period products at sporting venues, including sports clubs, gyms, and leisure centres, concerns around leaking, pain and discomfort, and emotional factors.
Approximately 78 per cent of participants in the study said their disability impacted what products or support they needed to manage their periods, with 37 per cent of respondents unable to use pads or tampons.
It seems not much has changed from the time I was competing over 25 years ago.
I remember one teammate struggling to manage painful periods that lasted weeks, and another teammate who didn’t have the education around menstruation to dispose of period products correctly.
The lack of understanding from the mostly male coaches and staff didn’t help the matter.
While we may be making headway into researching the impact menstruation has on girls and women in sport, I would argue that until the intersections of menstruation and disability are centred, we still have a long way to go to make sport wholly inclusive for all.
Source: The dual impact of menstruation and disability on para athletes – ABC News