Awards Committee Update by Jeniffer Rowland, PhD, MPH, PT
2011 APHA Disability Section Award Winners Announced
The Disability Section congratulates the 2011 award winners:
- Rune Simeonsson, Lifetime Achievement Award
- Elena Andresen, Allen Meyers Award
- Eleanor Smith, Advocacy Award
- Scott Robertson, Student Award
The award winners will be honored at the APHA Annual Meeting during the Business Meeting and Awards Ceremony in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Oct. 1, 2011, from 6:30-9:00 p.m. in Room 101 of the Washington Convention Center. Please join us in congratulating these individuals.
Nomination forms and deadline information for the 2012 awards will be
announced following the Annual Meeting.
Communications Committee Update by Roberta Carlin, MS, JD
Please visit the APHA Disability Section website at www.apha.org for additional updates on the upcoming Annual Meeting. The Chairs Forum will be held on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 30, at the Washington Convention Center. Please check you emails for updates from the APHA Disability Listserv about Chairs Forum details. The Disability Section Business/Reception Meeting will be held on Monday, Oct. 31, 2011. Please check program for room assignment and time.
Membership Committee, Update by Dot Nary, PhD
Look around you…
Do you have colleagues who are unaware of the Disability Section’s work? Students who might benefit from membership? Soon each Section member will receive a mailing that includes two print copies of our newly revised brochure. Please share these brochures with others who would appreciate the work of our section. Tell them why you joined and what you value about your membership. If you would like a supply of brochures to display in your office, post on bulletin boards, or distribute at meetings, please let me know. Or if you need the information in an alternate format, please let me know that as well. The strength of the Disability Section depends on our ability to attract and retain new members who embrace our values and the work that we do. Please help us to identify and reach out to these new members!
Dot Nary, Membership Chair
dotn@ku.edu
Policy Committee Update
Vincent Campbell, PhD, and Barbara Kornblau, PhD
Policy Updates: If you are interested in submitting a policy for consideration for the 2012 APHA Annual Meeting, they will be due after the first of the year, probably in February. Please refer to the APHA website, under Advocacy and Policy, for instructions and formats. You will need your Member ID and Password.
The APHA Disability Section is submitting a revised policy on Eliminating Access Barriers in Public Health Meetings (existing policy number Policy Number: 200025; enacted Jan. 1, 2000)) for consideration during the 2012 APHA Annual Meeting (both new and revised policies are now on the same schedule). This revised policy updates the existing policy by making reference to the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, the ICF instead of the ICIDH, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and more recent estimates on the size of the disability population in the United States.
HHS Announces Development of an Action Plan to End Disabilities Health Disparities
In April, HHS released its plan “HHS Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities A NATION FREE OF DISPARITIES IN HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE.” This plan left out disabilities as a population. Members of the Disability Section of APHA know the people with disabilities experience health disparities in treatment interventions and outcomes compared to people without disabilities. Plus, the Affordable Care Act (health reform law) mentions in detail the need to decrease disability health disparities, improve the quality care, and collect additional health-related data to show the needs of people with disabilities and whether or not they improve over time.
Leaders of the APHA Disability Section were frustrated when they saw this HHS Action Plan. Many had worked on disabilities disparities language to include in the plan, and someone decided not to include that language at the last minute. We expressed our frustration to Henry Claypool Director, HHS Office on Disability, and our contacts in the White House. On July 18, 2011, lead by APHA Disability Section leaders, a group of disabilities disparities stakeholders (self-advocates, researchers, data experts, and disability advocacy group representatives) and the Coalition for Disability Health Equity, met with Dr. Howard Koh, HHS assistant secretary for health, and staff, and Henry Claypool, director, HHS Office on Disability, and staff. Alison Johnson, of CDC’s Center for Birth Defects and Disability, listened on the phone.
We presented Dr. Koh with a huge binder and a CD filled with disability data, including articles and research findings from our section members. At the meeting, Dr. Koh announced his commitment to an action plan to end disabilities disparities. Our group gave input into what we want in the report, including the extensive existing data that shows the disparities we know of, using the same goals to end disparities contained in the HHS Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. Dr. Koh will give us another opportunity to have additional input into the roadmap for the action plan. There is a short turn around for this report.
In her speech commemorating the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, HHS Secretary Sebelius re-affirmed HHS’ commitment as she stated “Recently, our Assistant Secretary for Health, Dr. Howard Koh, and the Director of our Office on Disability Henry Claypool met with your leadership to discuss health disparities in the disability community. We are committed to confronting these disparities and look forward to working with you on a strategic action plan to guide our efforts going forward.” Also announced on the anniversary of the ADA, the HHS Advisory Committee on Minority Health released a new report on health equity for minority persons with disabilities, which can be accessed at http://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/templates/browse.aspx?lvl=2&lvlid=203
Program Chair Update by Kiyoshi Yamaki, PhD
The 139th APHA Annual Meeting & Exposition is just around the corner. Everything has been finalized, and we are ready to roll! The following are some highlights of this year’s Disability Section program.
Featured Sessions:
A team of researchers from the Social Security Administration, National Institutes of Health, and Boston University will present their findings from a study that explores a new method to adjudicate disability claims submitted to the Social Security Administration in an oral session tilted, “A New Approach Towards Disability Determination in Social Security Administration (SSA) Programs” (Tuesday, Nov. 1, 10:30 a.m.) (http://apha.confex.com/apha/139am/webprogram/Session31580.html).
A session titled “Conceptualizing, Defining and Measuring Disability II: Focus on Children,” will be held on Monday, Oct 30 at 2:30 p.m. In this session, presenters critically examine existing national and international surveys on children for the variation of disability measurements being used in these surveys (http://apha.confex.com/apha/139am/webprogram/Session32963.html).
Another session tilted “Implications of Rehabilitation Research for the Field of Public Health,” will be on Tuesday, Nov. 1 at 12:30 p.m. (http://apha.confex.com/apha/139am/webprogram/Session32964.html). In this session, representatives from the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research will discus their rehabilitation research and its implication on public health as well as a new opportunity for funding for public health researchers.
Student Orientation/Networking Meeting on Sunday Evening:
The student session, which the Section initiated last year, will be expanded this year. The Section recognizes the importance of supporting student members who are interested in the health of persons with disabilities. This meeting, initiated and organized by student members of our Section, is intended to provide a networking opportunity to such students who are currently dispersed across various disciplines and various schools. Disability Section Council members will be present at the meeting to provide guidance about the meeting and the Disability Section. The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 30, the first day of the Annual Meeting.
Explore sessions organized by other groups:
APHA includes more than 50 Caususes, Forums, Sections and Special Interest Groups. Many sessions sponsored by these groups include papers addressing the health of persons with disabilities similar to those organized by the DIS Section. One such example is “Disability: Inclusivity in Health Education and Promotion,” on Wednesday, Nov. 2 at 8:30a.m., a joint session by the Disability Section and the Public Health Education and Health Promotion Section (http://apha.confex.com/apha/139am/webprogram/Session31899.html). If you want to explore disability related presentations from other APHA groups, you can check out the DIS Section online schedule at http://apha.confex.com/apha/139am/webprogram/DISF.html. Sessions addressing disability related topics, organized by other Sections, SPIGs, Caucuses or Forums, are listed there in italics as “DIS Section Endorsed Sessions.”