Survey to Shape Work for Members With Disabilities

The survey is part of the AAFP’s efforts to strengthen diversity in the family medicine workforce. It was prompted by a resolution the 2021 Congress of Delegates adopted to ensure that the Academy’s strategic work meets members’ needs.

The resolution underscored the extent to which people with disabilities are underrepresented in medicine, noting that 20% of U.S. adults, but only 4.6% of medical students, reported having a disability. It went on to describe some of the difficulties people with disabilities face entering and remaining in the medical workforce. Some medical schools require students to have “full function” of hearing, vision or mobility, for example, and a 2012 study found that only 8% of primary care institutions had height-adjustable exam tables that could accommodate physicians in wheelchairs.

Changing this landscape would improve the availability of culturally proficient care for patients with disabilities and could lead to better health outcomes for a stigmatized population, the resolution authors noted.

“Physicians and students with disabilities bring diversity to health care and are an asset to their colleagues and patient care,” they wrote.

The member survey is open through May 27.