DETROIT – The Equal Dose podcast, produced by WebsEdge/Medicine, recently featured Michigan Development Disabilities Institute (MI-DDI) Director Dr. Sharon Milberger and Disability Advocate and frequent MI-DDI collaborator Jaime Junior in an episode discussing the relationship between disability, health equity, and systemic ableism. Housed at Wayne State University, MI-DDI is Michigan’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDs).
The episode is part of a series produced by WebsEdge that explores public health issues and how to build better outcomes for everyone. This episode also featured an appearance from Professor Michelle Meade from the University of Michigan’s Center for Disability Health and Wellness.
The podcast centers on the impact of medical, financial and social issues that surround those with disabilities when seeking health care services. Among the many topics discussed was that of “ableism,” which refers to the structure of power that disadvantages those with disabilities and classifies them as less than able-bodied patients. The American Medical Association describes ableism as one of the root causes of health inequities that is underrepresented in medical community studies.
Milberger shared how MI-DDI and other UCEDDs address these disparities through system changes and identify the specific barriers people with disabilities encounter in the health care system. This work includes offering disability training, assessing health care site accessibility and creating sensory friendly spaces (sights, sounds, and smells) through MI-DDI’s Most Valuable Provider (MVP) program, a collaboration between the Autism Alliance of Michigan, Disability Rights Michigan and MI-DDI.
Jaime Junior is a Detroit-based disability rights advocate who discussed her experiences as a person with disabilities. She believes that all policies regarding disability must be done by bringing those most impacted to the table. Junior also advocates for a social rather than a medical model of disability. She argues that this is the key to making better decisions for those with disabilities. It is important for medical training to include disability as a culture rather than an obstacle to treatment.
Junior notes, “It’s really about physicians providing culturally competent care. I am a person who believes disability absolutely is a culture. And as such, it should be taken under consideration when you are delivering care.”
The conversation acknowledged that health care providers don’t intentionally create these disparities. To combat them, more awareness and training are needed to make sure that systems of care can provide a better standard of living for individuals with disabilities.
To view the full conversation and learn more about the WebsEdge/Medicine Series visit here.
WebsEdge/Medicine is an arm of the global knowledge-driven media company, WebsEdge. Along with medicine, WebsEdge creates media focusing on science, society, and technology. They work with the world’s leading institutions and associations to discover the future in fields such as physics, neurology, public health, and genetics. Established in 1998 as HBL Media, the company was renamed WebsEdge in 2007. It is currently headquartered in London with offices in Washington D.C. and Denver, Colorado.