Page 33 - ASCO Cultural Competency Toolkit

disability? 2) What task or work has the animal been trained to perform? The ADA requires that
healthcare facilities reasonably modify their policies and practices to avoid discriminating against
individuals and to ensure people with disabilities are able to participate in the the services provided.
(Northeast ADA Center)
ABLEISM
Ableism is defined as discrimination in favor of non-disabled people. Ableism is rooted in the assumption that disabled people require ‘fixing’ and defines people by a disability. Not having accommodations appropriate to the individual’s need to allow them access to health care is a form of ableism because the clinician may not be providing the same access to care.
Amy Eisenmenger from Access Living describes examples of ableism that pertain to a clinical setting (Eisenmenger A, 2019):
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Buildings without braille on signs, elevator buttons, etc.
Building inaccessible websites.
The assumption that people with disabilities want or need to be ‘fixed.’
Using disability as a punchline or mocking people with disabilities.
Refusing to provide reasonable accommodations.
Talking to a person with a disability like they are a child, talking about them instead of directly to them, or speaking for them.
Asking invasive questions about the medical history or personal life of someone with a disability . Assuming people must have an externally visible disability actually to be disabled.
Questioning if someone is "actually" disabled, or "how much" they are disabled.
Asking, “How did you become disabled?”
It is
diagnosis or how their disability may appear. People with physical or cognitive impairment should be given the opportunity to respond to or address their own health care needs. Speaking to all patients in a respectful manner without infantilizing them because of their disability is critical to providing respectful care.
important to avoid assuming the level of interaction the patient will have with you based on a
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