The Power of Nutrition Podcast · Abbott Nutrition Health Institute

Beyond the Ramp: Disabilities in Nutrition & Dietetics Member Interest Group of the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics

·39 min·2 clips

The Disabilities MIG took seven years to launch and reached approval in March 2022.

1. The Power of Nutrition Podcast episode “Beyond the Ramp” focuses on disability access and leadership in nutrition and dietetics. 2. Mara Bowen hosts the conversation for Abbott Nutrition Health Institute, with Dr. Susie Baxter and Elena Morales as the guests. 3. The episode asks how disability shaped two dietitians’ careers and why the Disabilities in Nutrition and Dietetics member interest group was created. 4. Susie Baxter says she started in 1981 as the only dietitian in a residential school for children with disabilities. 5. Baxter also describes research work at the Medical College of Georgia and the University of South Carolina, including 99 peer-reviewed papers. 6. Baxter says she developed episodic burning pain in her hands and feet and was diagnosed in 2010 with erythromelalgia. 7. Baxter explains that erythromelalgia has no known cure and triggered major lifestyle changes, including giving up driving. 8. Baxter says she continued working for about six years after diagnosis before resigning her research professor position at the end of 2016. 9. Elena Morales says her disability experience began around age 12 with chronic illnesses that affected mobility, pain, and nutrition. 10. Morales describes using a wheelchair, a central line for IV infusions, a service dog, and later a minor traumatic brain injury after being hit by a car. 11. Morales says a caring dietitian during a hospital stay drew her toward dietetics. 12. Morales explains that a teacher helped her obtain accommodations in middle school, which improved her grades and school access. 13. The episode spends substantial time on environmental barriers, including ramps, parking, restroom doors, elevator buttons, and airport stalls. 14. Morales says Berkeley felt less accessible than expected, with cramped labs, cut programs, and an alternative entrance near a dumpster. 15. Susie Baxter traces the MIG’s formation to a 2016 mentoring request involving Neva Cochran and a DPD graduate with a disability. 16. Baxter says the group presented a poster at the Academy’s 2017 Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo and later added disability status questions to the Academy’s 2019 compensation and benefits survey. 17. Baxter says closed captioning was requested for webinars and FENCI sessions, but some 2023 keynote and session-room accommodations still failed. 18. The interview style is conversational and explanatory, with Mara Bowen using story framing and follow-up questions. 19. Listeners interested in disability access in health professions will get the most from it. 20. Listeners wanting a light nutrition overview without advocacy content may skip it.

As heard by us

A grounded look at disability advocacy taking shape inside nutrition and dietetics.

The episode traces a real origin story for disability advocacy in nutrition and dietetics. Dr. Susie Baxter and Elena Morales describe how a mentoring request in 2016 turned into joint work in January 2017, a poster at the Academy's annual Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo…

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Hear how disability advocacy turned into concrete changes inside nutrition and dietetics leadership.

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