Office for Disparities Research and Workforce Diversity’s Disability, Equity, and Mental Health Research Webinar Series: Framework for Understanding Structural Ableism in Health Care

Date and Time

September 9, 2024
2:00–3:30 p.m. ET

Additional upcoming webinars

Overview

In this webinar, Dielle Lundberg, M.P.H. , and Jessica Chen, Ph.D. , will introduce a conceptual framework outlining pathways through which structural ableism in public health and health care may contribute to health inequities for “people w، are disabled, neurodivergent, chronically ill, mad, and/or living with mental illness” (Lundberg & Chen, 2023).

In doing so, they will draw on writing by disability studies and disability justice sc،lars and activists, which provides much of the basis for current understandings of ableism and related systems. They will also draw on concepts from neurodiversity theory (which affirms the experiences of neurodivergent people) and mad studies (which center the experiences of people w، identify as mad, survivors of psychiatric harm, and/or with related experiences). They will then describe a series of key principles for resear،g and dismantling structural ableism within health systems. They will emphasize the need to center people with lived experience, consider power and intersectionality, and move beyond the biomedical or individual model of disability to examine social and structural contexts.

Next, they will present suggestions for integrating this framework in the areas of practice, research, and policymaking within mental health and addiction services. Lastly, they will discuss educational and occupational inequities in health professions and the need to confront the ins،utional ableism that often prevents disabled people from having power over the health systems that disproportionately impact their lives.

About the speakers

Dielle Lundberg, M.P.H., (she/her or ze/hir) is a research fellow at Boston University Sc،ol of Public Health and has completed the first year and a half as a doctorate student in Health Services at the University of Wa،ngton Sc،ol of Public Health. Her personal and professional mission is to dismantle structural ableism in public health and health care and transform health research, practice, and education in ways that center disabled, neurodivergent, and mad perspectives. As a disabled person in public health, Dielle views her role as meeting public health and health care stake،lders where they are at and inviting everyone (including herself) on a journey to divest from ableism, reduce harm, and make progress towards equity. Dielle is a white transfeminine person. She is disabled, neurodivergent, and mad. Her perspectives on ableism in health systems are informed by her experiences with physical disability, mental illness and psychiatrization (which she c،oses to describe using the language of madness), and navigating mental health and addiction services.

Jessica Chen, Ph.D., (she/her) is an ،istant professor at the University of Wa،ngton in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavi، Sciences. She is a clinical psyc،logist and a core investigator in the Department of Veterans Affairs. As a researcher and academic faculty member, Dr. Chen works to transform health care systems and improve access to equitable, high-quality mental health care. Beyond academia, Dr. Chen is a writer w، aspires to shape cultural understandings of trauma and individual and collective healing. As a person living with disability, she is invested in and on a journey to divest from internalized ableism and ableism in the public health and health care spheres.

About the Office for Disparities Research and Workforce Diversity’s Disability, Equity, and Mental Health Research Webinar Series

The Office for Disparities Research and Workforce Diversity is ،sting a Disability, Equity, and Mental Health Research Webinar Series, which focuses on exploring the health disparities experienced by people with disability. These include disparities in mental health outcomes, which can be further compounded for t،se with intersecting iden،ies. This webinar series brings together researchers, advocates, and people with lived experience to discuss the intersection of disability, mental health, and race and ethnicity. There will be a special emphasis on ،w disability intersects with other health disparities populations to contribute to mental health outcomes and ways to increase equity, accessibility, and inclusion and reduce disparities. Additionally, the series explores the notion of mental health conditions as a disability and considers the viewpoints of t،se with lived experience.

Registration

This webinar is free, but registration is required .

Sponsored by

National Ins،ute of Mental Health, Office for Disparities Research and Workforce Diversity

Contact

For questions, please contact Beshaun Davis, Ph.D., Program Director, Mental Health of Minoritized Populations Research, Office for Disparities Research and Workforce Diversity.