This year’s APHA Annual Meeting in San Diego was an historic event for the Disability Section. It was the first meeting under our new Section status, and the transformation from an ‘interest group’ to a ‘section’ gave us a significantly higher level of visibility among the other 24 Sections in APHA. For those of you reminiscent of the days when disability was more of an afterthought in the minds of many public health professionals, it is comforting to know that disability today has a much greater presence within public health, and in particular, within the hierarchy of APHA. For the first time in our brief 20-year history, we had a seat at the 2008 Intersectional Council meeting alongside such stalwart sections as Medical Care, Epidemiology and Statistics. New section status enhances the visibility of disability-related issues among other sections within APHA, and keeps us in the loop on legislative and policy issues proposed by APHA that may affect the lives of people with disabilities.  

The Disability Section program covered a range of diverse topics, from traditional themes like Disability Surveillance, Health Promotion and Epidemiology, to new program areas in Disability and Community-Based Health Technology, International Health, and Translating Disability Research into Practice. The 50-plus oral presentations and 30 posters provided conference participants with a wealth of information on cutting-edge research in disability and public health.  Other highlights of the conference included a third place finish as the most attractive booth in the exhibit area; a new Disability Section professional brochure and student brochure; distribution of four $1,000 student scholarships to attend this year’s APHA meeting; a more dynamic and engaging Web site; accessibility guidelines for presenters, moderators and program planners; and a new monograph on the 20-year History of the Disability Forum/Section.

The one unfortunate event was our unsuccessful attempt to block passage of the Physician-Assisted Suicide resolution (referred to as Self-Determination at the End of Life) sponsored by the Epidemiology Section. Policy Chair Suzanne McDermott and others worked tirelessly at rebutting the proposed resolution but faced a strong headwind of Governing Council members who had likely made up their mind prior to the meeting to support the resolution. The positive outcome, however, was raising awareness within APHA that certain issues in public health will be contested by our Section if they adversely affect the lives of people with disabilities. All in all, it was a great inaugural conference as a new Section, led by a terrific group of Executive Council members who volunteered their time and effort to ensure that the conference program was interesting, informative and accessible.