Disability and Menstruation

Menstruation is not a uniform experience, and people manage periods differently depending on their personal circumstances and the wider environment. Although their experiences are often silenced or overlooked, disabled people may face greater challenges in managing menstruation, in addition to their impairment effects and/or symptoms. This is also the case for neurodivergent people, as they may find periods and perimenopause to exacerbate their neurodivergent traits. In some instances, menstruation itself may be considered a disability, as there is a wide range of menstrual health conditions that negatively impact people’s lives. Moreover, societal and environmental barriers with relation to menstruation, such as period poverty and lack of toilet facilities, pose substantial challenges to those who menstruate, increasing gender inequalities worldwide. This entry explores the relationship between menstruation and disability, both how problematic menstruation may meet legal and theoretical thresholds of “disability” and how disabled people may manage their menstruation. Menstruation is defined as problematic when it is heavy, lasting for over 7 days, painful, irregular, or associated with a range of psychological symptoms.

To explore the complex interplay between menstruation and disability, this entry introduces the main models of disability and neurodiversity, explores the experiences of disabled people managing periods, and discusses how people who menstruate and have menstrual health conditions may be disabled by social processes that exclude them from society, including education and employment. This entry uses identity-first language (disabled people) rather than person-first language (people with disabilities) in keeping with the preference of disability scholars and activists.