A new NIH program will allocate nearly $30 million to 10 groups over five years to examine the impact of ableism on various health outcomes for people with disabilities and to develop strategies to combat these disparities.
The studies investigate ableism towards several different populations, including people with low vision trying to access services and maternal health outcomes among Medicaid beneficiaries with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Born out of the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, when doctors ignored disabled peoples’ needs when triaging patients in hospitals, this project is part of a recent shift by the NIH to treat the country’s largest minority group — more than 27% of the United States population in 2022 — as a distinct demographic with unique health outcomes.
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