A Needed Match: Medical Education and Disability Health Curricula

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Examining the need to integrate disability health education into medical school curricula. A 🧵 @deafmd1 cell.com/trends/molecular-medicine/fulltext/S1471-4914(22)00208-8 @TrendsMolecMed @CellPressNews

The authors note that “medical educational curricula that deconstruct disabilities into a series of deficits or pathologies (medical model)” perpetuate the ableism that abounds throughout healthcare.

A better approach would be to use “a social or wellness model that moves away from pathologies and emphasizes what the PWD [people with disabilities] can do or need[].”

As a member of a pathologized community, I cannot emphasize enough how much pathologizing people sets communities back. Unfortunately, we live in a society where gatekept healthcare often requires “pathology” as an entry fee. 👎

Here, the authors provide examples of disability health curricula and training strategies.

Some striking statistics: - 1/4 adults in the US self-report a disability - Yet, only 3.1% of practicing physicians reporting a disability - And, “The US Medical Licensing Examination Content Outline mentions ‘disability’ only **once**”

Therefore, in medicine, we are dealing with an underrepresentation issue. And where there is underrepresentation, there is a lost opportunity

Fact: ”everyone benefits from valuing disability culture”

As others have noted, when we exclude people who could contribute to science and medicine, everyone suffers harm. twitter.com/isabelgoldm/status/1560620187677851648?s=21&t=NuGaiRsWNh1Vbaw4hGWyVw

And, at a more base level, one wants to feel like they belong. And when they don’t, it can signal a lack of #DEI twitter.com/isabelgoldm/status/1519660682232348673?s=21&t=dhIDb7CwjZBiCOoNP9ua4A

People with disabilities, like a lot of marginalized people, “provide a lens into intersectionality factors, not just on their disability itself.”

These authors call for “Placing a clear priority with adequate support [to] help [] make disability health training a part of standardized curricula and ensure that disability is part of diversity, equity, and inclusion institutional efforts.” 👍

In conclusion…