One Goal
The Disability Equity Collaborative’s goal is to empower and support healthcare organizations, practitioners, and policy makers in implementing evidence-based, accessible care for their patients with disabilities, and to enact policies that ensure that patients with disabilities will receive equitable healthcare.
There are 4 primary expressions of the DEC:
DEC Leaders
DEC Leaders is a community of individuals (for example, ADA Coordinators, Section 504/1557 Coordinators) who work in healthcare organizations and hospitals on disability accessibility initiatives. The group meets virtually twice a month to serve as a “safe space” in which participants exchange ideas, find solutions to problems they face in their organizations, and champion their successes. Subject matter experts are regularly invited as guest speakers. Find out more about the group here.
Research: Evidence Leads to Change
Rigorous evidence is needed to inform the provision of accessible healthcare for patients with disabilities. The Research Presentations invite interdisciplinary engagement of not only researchers, but advocates, policy makers, payers, and others who are interested in advancing the development, production, and dissemination of research evidence. Research Presentations highlight recent evidence that promotes the equitable care of people with disabilities. Access presentation recordings here.
The Research Workgroup, in collaboration with other key stakeholders, released a White Paper: “Patient Centered Outcomes Research Priorities to Advance Disability Equity”. The paper identifies critical priorities for setting patient-centered outcomes research agendas, provides funding agencies with priorities most in need of support, and informs policy makers of the gaps that need to be addressed in order to assure equitable health care for people with disabilities. Read it here.
Developing Standards for Documentation
The Documentation workgroup seeks to develop standards and resources for documenting patients’ disability status and accommodation needs in Electronic Health Records and then using the information to inform accessible, equitable care. The workgroup meets virtually three times per year.
Coming soon! The Workgroup collaborated with other stakeholders to develop a revised and enhanced implementation toolkit for implementing documentation of disability status and accommodation needs. The toolkit will be released in Summer 2024.
Developing Guidelines for Implementing Accessible Care
The Guidelines workgroup seeks to develop actionable guidelines and resources for implementing accessible and equitable healthcare. The group is currently working on developing implementation toolkits for:
- Establishing a disability accessibility program
- Providing effective communication
- Providing disability-related accommodations
If you’re interested in joining a DEC workgroup, please complete this interest form.