When women say we’re in pain, why are we still not believed?

When women say we’re in pain, why are we still not believed? This week, Emma Barnett’s BBC documentary Fighting Endometriosis has put endometriosis back in the news. I haven’t dealt with endometriosis myself, but I know what it feels like when doctors speak about your body as if you aren’t in the room. I’ve sat in a GP surgery as a blind woman while a doctor asked my sister questions about my vagina instead of just talking to me and that moment has never left me. Because this is the thing that links so many women’s health stories - dismissed pain, symptoms minimised, our choices are questioned, and disabled women are treated as though we are not the authority on our own experiences. Endometriosis can mean years of chronic pelvic pain, heavy periods, fatigue, bowel and bladder problems, fertility worries and being told it is normal or just period pain… In the UK, the average diagnosis time for endometriosis is now 9 years and 4 months. If this is happening with endometriosis waiting times, what is happening across the rest of women’s healthcare? What about fertility treatment? What about gynaecology appointments? What about disabled women trying to access reproductive healthcare? I’m going through fertility treatment now, and it has already been a long road to get here. Women deserve to be believed. Disabled women deserve to be spoken to directly. Pain deserves proper investigation. And women’s healthcare should not feel like a fight before you even start treatment… #Endometriosis #DisabledWomensRights