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The Importance of Addressing Ableism in Medical Education

Ableism in medical education is a critical issue that affects the quality of care provided to individuals with disabilities. One in five Canadians lives with some form of apparent or non-apparent disability, and as the population ages, the number of people with disabilities accessing health services will continue to grow. Despite this, people with disabilities often face stigmatization and receive sub-optimal healthcare, a reality rooted in ableist attitudes and a lack of understanding within the medical community.

Ableism, the discrimination and social prejudice against people with disabilities, perpetuates the harmful belief that typical abilities are superior and that people with disabilities need to be ‘fixed’. This mindset not only marginalizes individuals with disabilities but also impacts their healthcare outcomes. To provide equitable and patient-centered care, it is essential for future medical professionals to be educated on the unique needs and perspectives of people with disabilities.

Our initiative aims to combat ableism by sensitizing medical students early in their education, equipping them with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to offer compassionate, empathetic, and effective care. By fostering an inclusive and respectful healthcare environment, we can ensure that all patients, regardless of their abilities, receive the highest standard of care. Join us in shaping a future where medical education and practice are free from ableism, and every patient is valued and understood.

What is Ableism?

Ableism is the discrimination and social prejudice against people with disabilities based on the belief that typical abilities are superior. At its heart, ableism assumes that disabled people require ‘fixing’ and defines people by their disability. Like racism and sexism, ableism includes harmful stereotypes, misconceptions, and generalizations of people with disabilities.

The Problem: Barriers to Healthcare

Barriers to healthcare for people with disabilities can partly be explained by a lack of knowledge about disabilities, but also by the attitudes of healthcare professionals. These attitudes contribute to bias. Healthcare professionals must be aware of the unique needs of this population and respond to them as they would to any other person.

Our Solution: Educating Future Doctors

Sensitizing the next generation of medical students early in their program is necessary. Patient-centered care is health care that is compassionate, empathetic, and focused on the patient’s own goals, preferences, values, and needs. This means asking about these goals and preferences and acting to ensure they are met, rather than presuming what is good for the patient.

Strategies for Tackling Ableism

Strategies to tackle ableist perspectives among health professionals include:

  1. Increasing knowledge and confidence among physicians and trainees to provide goal-directed care.
  2. Performing language audits to ensure use of neutral and inclusive terminologies.
  3. Challenging ableist messages.
  4. Addressing unmet healthcare needs.
  5. Reforming medical curricula to represent and treat people with disabilities equitably.
  6. Increasing the inclusion of people with disabilities in medical schools.
Current Interventions

Few interventions to address ableism exist apart from short awareness sessions. To paraphrase Lord Kelvin, you can’t fix what you can’t measure. Current measures of health professionals’ attitudes have limitations: they assess attitudes at one point in time, aren’t designed to inform curriculum changes, aren’t developed to evaluate change, have ambiguous wording, and are susceptible to social desirability bias.

Influencing Attitudes

Attitudes are difficult to target directly in an educational setting but can be influenced by:

  • Sensitization to the situation.
  • Experiential learning.
  • Role modeling.

Key Statistics on Ableism

1 in 5 Canadians lives with some form of apparent or non-apparent disability.

%

Of people with disabilities report experiencing discrimination or unfair treatment from healthcare providers.

%

Of medical schools include comprehensive disability education in their curricula.

 

 

At a glance

Ableism in medical education

Our Team

Meet our dedicated team working to reduce ableism in healthcare. Discover the passionate individuals driving our mission!

How it started

Learn how our mission began and the journey we’ve taken. Read more about our story!

Impact

See the difference we’re making in healthcare and how we’re changing medical education. Discover our impact and join us in creating a more inclusive future!

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