Health Promotion

Resources to Address Access to Health Care for People with Disabilities

People with disabilities can and should be healthy and have the right to accessible and quality health care. The UConn UCEDD works collaboratively with state agencies, disability advocacy groups, community organizations, and others to achieve health equity. Together, we can address some of the challenges to access health care, educate current and future health professionals, and advocate for systems change here in Connecticut and on the national level.

These resources include a new checklist for providers on best practices to provide health care to adults with disabilities, resources for those in Connecticut, and select seminal research articles related to health and disability.

Checklist of Best Practices to Provide Health Care to Adults with Disabilities

    Connecticut Specific Resources

      Seminal Research Articles

      • Krahn, G., Walker, D., & Correa-De-Araujo, R., (2015). Persons with disabilities as an unrecognized health disparity population. American Journal of Public Health, 105,Suppl2, S198-206. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2014.302182
      • Iezzoni, L., McKee, M. M., Meade, M. A., Morris, M. A., & Pendo, E. (2022). Have almost fifty years of disability Civil Rights laws achieved equitable care?, Health Affairs, 41(10), 1371–1378. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2022.00413
      • Iezzoni, L. I., Rao, S. R., Ressalam, J., Bolcic-Jankovic, D., Agaronnik, N. D., Donelan, K., Lagu, T., & Campbell, E. G. (2021). Physicians’ perceptions of people with disability and their health care. Health Affairs, 40(2), 297-306. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.01452
      • Iezzoni, L. I., Rao, S. R., Ressalam, J., Bolcic-Jankovic, D., Agaronnik, N. D., Lagu, T., Pendo, E., & Campbell, E. G. (2022). US physicians’ knowledge about the Americans with Disabilities Act and accommodation of patients with disability. Health Affairs, 41(1), 96-104. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2021.01136
      • Iezzoni, L. I., Rao, S. R., Ressalam, J., Bolcic-Jankovic, D., Donelan, K., Agaronnik, N., Lagu, T., & Campbell, E. G. (2021). Use of accessible weight scales and examination tables/chairs for patients with significant mobility limitations by physicians nationwide. Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, 47(10), 615-626. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcjq.2021.06.005
      • Lagu, T., Haywood, C., Reimold, K., DeJong, C., Sterling, R. W., & Iezzoni. L. I. (2022). ‘I am not the doctor for you’: Physicians’ attitudes about caring for people with disabilities. Health Affairs, 41(10). https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2022.00475
      • Yee, S., Breslin, M. L., Goode, T. D., Havercamp, S. M., Horner-Johnson, W., Iezzoni, L. I., & Krahn, G. (2018). COMPOUNDED DISPARITIES: Health Equity at the Intersection of Disability, Race, and Ethnicity. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.