DISABILITY RACE AND INEQUITY IN HEALTHCARE AND BEYOND

DISABILITY, RACE, AND INEQUITY IN HEALTHCARE AND BEYOND WASHIEKA TORRES

AGENDA • Introductions • Projects • Disability terms • How society sees disability • Disability and health • Disability and race • Why intersections matter • Why health outcomes are so poor for disabled people (intersections) • Discussion questions (3) • Final words • Thank you • Questions • References

INTRODUCTIONS • Washieka Tenieka Torres • South Bronx Afro-Latina • Ph. D Student UIC (Disability Studies) • I have filmed a documentary on disabled foodways in Mississippi • Disability Rights Activist since 2008 • Public Speaker • Grant Writer • Much of my work looks at disabled foodways (how disabled people navigate food systems and what the means for them)

PROJECTS • Documentaries (2 finished, more in the works) • Chicagoland food sovereignty guide • Public speaking about disability and food access (infrastructure, gardening, cooking, shopping, COVID 19) • Community Cuisine program

DISABILITY TERMS • Impairment- An injury, illness, or congenital condition that causes or is likely to cause a loss or difference of physiological or psychological function • Disability- The loss or limitation of opportunities to take part in society on an equal level with others due to social and environmental barriers • Medical Model- Disability/Impairment is within the individual and that person must be fixed • Social Model- Disability is located in the way society is organized; it is the restriction of activity caused by inadequate social organisation. • The social model does not reject medicine but also acknowledges that people with disabilities are inhibited not by their own failures, but by societies treatment of them. This includes the environment, society and other barriers

HOW SOCIETY SEES DISABILITY • Late 19 th century through the early 20 th century • Disabled people become sign of degeneratation, illness, contagion, bad genes – no idea how those worked • Disabled should be pitied and withheld from public view, put away for their own good and the good of society- ie state schools • Disability should be eliminated through cure, rehabilitation, institutionalization, public policy, or death • Eugenics encourages reproduction amongst those with desirable traits and discourages reproduction of those with undesirable traits ie sterilization

HOW SOCIETY SEES DISABILITY CONT’D • Disability in metaphor: we understand something is bad because we understand disability as bad • Disability is a problem to be solved • Disabled people = perpetual children • Asexual or dangerously sexual • These ideas are not only seen or shown in media but perpetuated in institutions of learning as well.

DISABILITY AND HEALTH BARRIERS • People with disability experience higher barriers to primary care than those without disabilities • These barriers are financial, social, structural (infrastructure or otherwise) • There also attitudinal barriers as well which are not as researched

DISABILITY AND HEALTH CONT’D People with disabilities report their health is fair or poor more often than those without disabilities (40. 3% vs. 9. 9%) People with disabilities report higher rates of stress and depression than people without disabilities Disability-associated healthcare expenditures accounted for 36% of all healthcare expenditures for adults residing in the United States, totaling $868 billion, (2015)

DISABILITY AND RACE • People of color and people with disabilities face barriers to education and employment that limit their earning potential. • African Americans are not only more likely to have a disability (1 in 4), but it appears that the impact of that disability on their lives may be greater than it is on their white counterparts • This manifests in the school to prison pipeline • 45% of Black boys and 26% of Black girls that Pittsburgh Public School Police refer to juvenile justice have disabilities.

DISABILITY AND RACE CONT’D • Having a disability creates extra costs for people and can limit their economic opportunities. This can be especially difficult for people of color who already have poorer outcomes in education, income and employment • For example, disability benefits (including health coverage) are often hinged on proving one is incapable of work, but anti-poverty programs often have a work requirement. • In 2016, Vilissa Thompson created the hashtag #Disability. So. White to shed light on the ways Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) are consistently marginalized and often silenced in disability justice spaces

WHY INTERSECTIONS MATTER • Race and disability are not completely separate sources of disadvantage that parallel each other. Race and disability are overlapping identities that are both related to systemic inequality. • It is often said that disability is both a cause and consequence of poverty and disability reinforce each other, contributing to increased vulnerability and exclusion. • Poverty causes disability • People in poverty are less able to treat disabling conditions and to mitigate their impact • Disability causes poverty • Race is linked to poverty and disability in America

WHY HEALTH OUTCOMES ARE SO POOR FOR DISABLED PEOPLE OF COLOR (INTERSECTIONS) • This Space intentionally left blank

DISCUSSION QUESTION • How do we see/measure quality of life?

DISCUSSION QUESTION • In what subtle ways do we see discrimination happening in our fields

DISCUSSION QUESTION • In what ways do disability and race compound barriers?

DISCUSSION QUESTION • What are some barriers that weren’t discussed

FINALS WORDS • We can examine many things through the lens of disability and race and we should • Doing so allows us to better interact with populations and get to the root of their particular concerns • We can do this work individually within our minds but also within our organizations as well • We are a part of society and as such we can change societal and health norms • But we also need to center disabled people and their needs because doing so will give them better quality care that is also inclusive of their needs, environment and capabilities.

THANK YOU

Questions?

REFERENCES • University of New Hampshire Institute on Disability. (2011, August 25). IOD Report Finds Significant Health Disparities for People with Disabilities. Retrieved July 01, 2016, from http: //www. iod. unh. edu/About/News/11 -0825/IOD_Report_Finds_Significant_Health_Disparities_for_People_with_Dis abilities. aspx • Https: //disability-studies. leeds. ac. uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/library/Northern-Officers-Groupdefining-impairment-and-disability. pdf • https: //www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pmc/articles/PMC 4355692/#: ~: text=People%20 with%20 disabilities%20 h ave%20 largely, (40. 3%25%20 vs%209. 9%25). • https: //www. cdc. gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/relatedconditions. html • https: //www. cdc. gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/data-highlights. html

REFERENCES • Courtney-Long, E. A. , Romano, S. D. , Carroll, D. D. et al. Socioeconomic Factors at the Intersection of Race and Ethnicity Influencing Health Risks for People with Disabilities. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities (2017) 4: 213. DOI: 10. 1007/s 40615 -016 -0220 -5 external icon. • Https: //www. christianaobeysumner. com/blog/2019/7/26/disabilitysowhite-reflections-on-race-anddisability-on-ada-day https: //fisafoundation. org/disability-inclusion-pgh/race-and-disability/ • https: //www. nationaldisabilityinstitute. org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/disability-race-poverty-inamerica. pdf • https: //www. nationaldisabilityinstitute. org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/race-ethnicity-and-disabilityfinancial-impact. pdf