The Power of Nutrition Podcast · Abbott Nutrition Health Institute

Beyond the Ramp: Building an Accessibility Culture for Clinicians & Students with Disabilities

March 29, 2024·47 min·2 clips

Host Mara Bowen is joined by Dr. Susie Baxter, a nutrition researcher who acquired a rare disability in 2010, and Elena Morales, a wheelchair-using dietitian and disability activist, for the second episode in a five-part accessibility series. They trace the legal landscape from Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act through the 1990 ADA and a landmark 2023 proposed HHS rule, then pivot to practical guidance on how clinicians, students, and dietetic interns navigate workplace and campus accommodation systems. Elena shares candid personal experiences of internship accommodation gray areas, the gap between legal compliance and disability culture, and her five-year campaign to create one of the first disability cultural centers at UC Berkeley. Susie reveals her own hesitation to disclose her disability to her employer and the financial safety net that ultimately protected her, while emphasizing that more than half of all workplace accommodations cost nothing. The episode is a field guide for healthcare providers who want to build genuine accessibility cultures and for clinicians and students with disabilities who need to understand their legal rights.

As heard by us

Accessibility is framed as practical barriers and accommodation choices, not a slogan.

A first day at a clinic or hospital turns into a test of access fast: a taken parking spot, a blocked ramp, and a broken elevator can make an ordinary arrival feel much harder than it should.

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Why you'd press play

Need a clear map of disability accommodations when training starts inside a clinic, hospital, or internship?

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