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Disability in Medicine — Guest Editor Mytien Nguyen
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My name is Mytien Nguyen, MS and I am a MD-PhD candidate, student advocate, and husky lover dedicated to promoting justice and equity through community engagement and research. I have been privileged to be a part of a community of trainee scholars and mentors that is the Social Mission Alliance. As Helen Keller shares, “alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
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I am honored to be this month’s guest editor, and would like to highlight one dimension of marginalization in medicine that is often overlooked: disability. The Disability community has been historically excluded—and silenced—from policy and education. Medical education often upholds a culture of ableism, erecting barriers that makes medical training inaccessible to students with one or more disabilities.
Between 2016 and 2019, the number of students reporting disabilities increased by more than 50%, with 4.6% of students reporting disability in 2019. Students with disability face significant barrier in medical training, including discrimination and lack of access to appropriate accommodations. These negative experiences in turn results in significant higher rates of burnout among students with a disability. In this newsletter, we highlight the wonderful and critical advocacy, community building, and research on disability across health professions.
I invite everyone to engage and learn from our community champion spotlights, the Docs with Disabilities Initiative and the Disability Advocacy Coalition in Medicine, and tune in to an upcoming book club, workshop, or conference below.
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Community Champion Spotlight
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Docs with Disabilities Initiative
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We are honored to highlight the Docs with Disabilities Initiative, a community-driven initiative that advocate for persons with disability and chronic illnesses through research, education, and sharing of stories to drive change in perceptions, disability policy, and procedures in health professions, biomedical and science education.
The aim of the Docs with Disability Initiative is to build more inclusive educational environments for trainees with disabilities and increase representation of disabled clinicians and scientists in the biomedical workforce.
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Inclusive in teaching how to be a culturally competent provider for patients with different types of disabilities
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Informative in communicating how trainees can be involved in combating ableism in medicine
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Supportive of existing providers and future providers in medicine with disability
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Upcoming Events
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Disability Advocacy Coalition in Medicine Virtual Conference
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The Disability Advocacy Coalition in Medicine of Northwestern University and University of Michigan is pleased to invite you to their third annual virtual conference taking place Saturday, October 28, 2023 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. EST over Zoom. This event is trainee led and trainee focused.
Through thoughtful sessions, reflective panels, and workshops, we will discuss and learn about how we as graduate health professional students can advocate for patients with disabilities, support our peers with disabilities, and address ableism in medicine and medical education.
Real time captioning and ASL interpretation will be present during all sessions. Additional accommodations available upon request during conference registration.
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FREE Conference: Redefining Health for Disability Equity
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Hosted by the Disability Health Equity Research Network, this free conference will take place September 21 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern. Featuring speakers Thomas Shakespeare, PhD, Teresa Nguyen, MPH, Gloria Krahn, PhD, Susan Havercamp, PhD, and Elizabeth Burnes, PhD.
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Reimagining Technical Standards for Inclusive Medical Education
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As medical schools expand their diversity initiatives to embrace individuals with disabilities, the need to revisit and revise technical standards has become paramount. To guide you on this transformative journey, Docs with Disabilities and AAMC are excited to present: “Reimagining Technical Standards for Inclusive Medical Education: A Workshop Webinar.”
Building upon the foundation laid by the 2020 webinar, “Aligning Technical Standards with 21st Century Medical Education, “this workshop-meets-webinar goes beyond the ‘why’ to delve into the ‘how’ of reimagining and revising technical standards.
Join this 90-minute session to receive a comprehensive overview of best practices for technical standards, the step-by-step process of revising them, and an in-depth exploration of technical standards domains. This workshop offers a unique opportunity to actively engage in the revision process, empowering you to make your institution’s technical standards more inclusive and accommodating.
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Join the Disability Equity Book Club
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How do the meetings work?
Each meeting is facilitated by experienced disability equity professionals who will facilitate a discussion of each chapter.
The goal of the book club is to empower health professions education stakeholders (e.g., diversity teams, DRP’s, staff, faculty, students) to become thoughtful, informed allies to disabled people and how they can help make the world a more accessible, inclusive place.
RSVPs are required for each meeting. Review the schedule and RSVP today!
How do I sign up and what do I need to participate?
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Register for each meeting. We encourage you to save the meeting to your calendar when prompted, which will include the meeting link.
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Read the assigned chapter.
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Attend the meeting to learn from peers and experts!
Book Club is 4-5 pm EST. With the exception of the kickoff and final event with the author, which will begin at 3:30 pm EST.
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More Updates from Social Mission Alliance
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Civic Health Month
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Our partner Vot-ER is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization working to integrate civic engagement into healthcare. They develop nonpartisan civic engagement tools and programs for every corner of the healthcare system. Their work is driven by a community of healthcare workers united by a common vision: healthy communities powered by inclusive democracy. They’ve already expanded into over 700 hospitals and clinics and helped over 75,000 Americans prepare to vote. And we’re just getting started.
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Vot-ER invites us to learn more about the connection between voting and health and civically engage our patients. You can find more information below:
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Follow Civic Health Month events and actions on social media by searching #CivicHealthMonth. Post about how you are engaging with Civic Health Month by including #CivicHealthMonth in your posts.
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Order your FREE Vot-ER Badge to begin helping patients register to vote in upcoming elections
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National Health Equity Grand Rounds
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Join a National Health Equity Grand Rounds event, Creating Accountability Through Data, on Tues., Oct.10 from 2:00-3:30 PM ET to earn free CME and reimagine how demographic data can be used to advance health equity, address disparities, and hold powerful institutions accountable.
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Social Mission Alliance is a joint activity of the Mullan Institute and George Washington University. We transform health professions education by mobilizing and amplifying learners, teachers, community leaders, policymakers, and their organizations to advance equity in education, research, service, policy, and practice.
Have ideas for content in our future newsletters or want to get in touch? Email us at info@socialmission.org
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September 1, 2023
