Using the health humanities to impart disability competencies to undergraduate medical students

Disability competencies were included, for the first time, in India's new undergraduate competency-based curriculum as a result of physician-led advocacy in 2019; the regulatory body also recommended the use of the humanities in medicine.

To use tools from the health humanities to impart disability competencies and help students appreciate the social and human rights issues associated with disability.

A module was developed and piloted in the foundation course on the new cohort of students. The tools included storytelling, visual art, poetry, narratives, and Forum Theatre; many facilitators were doctors and patients with disabilities. Learners were introduced to the concept of universal design through a field visit. Quantitative and open-ended feedback was taken from learners after module delivery; reflections were sought after four months.

The data revealed that the humanities tools used in the module had the potential to help learners explore struggle and oppression and to expose discriminatory attitudes. Learners were able to think beyond the hegemony of normalcy, and show an understanding of diversity, dignity, autonomy, disableism, social inclusion, equity, and universal design. They admitted to the misconceptions they carried and showed keenness to advocate for change.

This study piloted a novel disability competencies module using tools from the health humanities and found that learners were able to engage with and show an understanding of the social and human rights issues associated with disability. Conversations by, for, and with people with disabilities must be part of such interventions in developing and delivering disability courses.