Disability and Ableism in Medicine: A Curriculum for Medical Students

Individuals with disabilities (approximately 20% of the population) experience discrimination and health disparities. Medical school must equip students with expertise to care for patients with disabilities and to identify ableism. Yet, few schools provide curricula that offer a sociopolitical lens for understanding this topic. We developed a disability and ableism curriculum to address this gap.

We developed a mandatory 2-hour session for first-year medical students at University of California San Francisco. Activities included: privilege awareness, student-led discussions, and intervention brainstorming for overcoming health care barriers/biases. The session was evaluated through pre/postsurveys, as well as a follow-up survey 1 year later.

In feedback collected during 2018 and 2019, students described the session as meaningful and relevant. Faculty facilitators reported that the session provoked powerful student-centered learning, leadership, and widespread participation. On average the students rated the session 4.6 on a 5-point scale. Pre- and postsession data analysis indicated significant increases in students' self-reported understanding of ableism (p < .001) and confidence in assessing barriers to care for patients with disability (p < .001). One year later, students reported that the session had influenced their conceptualization of providing care to patients with disabilities.

Through innovative and participatory activities, this small-group session introduced students to important topics such as ableism, the social model of disability, disability history and culture, and health disparities. Our work suggested that creating curricula to equip students with structural frameworks for understanding disability-a topic underrepresented in medical curricula-stimulated student interest and commitment.