About:

In this collection of essays, I explore issues of disability-related access in public health and health sciences education, drawing from scholarship from disability studies and disability justice communities, the writings of other mad, neurodivergent, and disabled people, and (primarily) my own experiences, from my year and a half as a public health PhD student.

Two books that go into issues of academic ableism in far greater depth than I will in these 10 essays are Mad at School: Rhetorics of Mental Disability and Academic Life by Margaret Price and Ableism in Academia: Theorising experiences of disabilities and chronic illnesses in higher education edited by Nicole Brown and Jennifer Leigh. A main goal of this essay collection is to show examples of how issues of academic ableism raised in these two (and other related) works show up in health education to spur change.

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Table of Contents:

Part One: Alligator Talks

Essay One. “I Was a Public Health PhD Student. How Many QALYs Did I Lose?”

Essay Two. “10 Questions Disabled Students Should Ask a PhD Program Before You Make Your Decision”

Essays Three and Four were taken offline after a year because they described my personal experiences in my PhD program that led me to leave the program. The remaining essays, which address broader concerns regarding access and public health PhD programs, remain available.

Essay Five. “Disgruntled: It Doesn’t Really Matter What Your Tone Is As a Disabled and/or Neurodivergent Person in Public Health and Health Sciences”

Part Two: Some Alligators Regrow Limbs Themselves

Essay Six. “A Federal Policy Agenda for Protecting Disabled, Neurodivergent, and/or Mad Health Trainees Funded by the NIH and AHRQ”

Essay Seven. “Creating University Policies to Protect Disabled, Neurodivergent and/or Mad Health Trainees, Ensure Equal Opportunities, and Effectively Resolve Conflicts”

Essay Eight. “Building Public Health and Health Science PhD and Fellowship Programs that Effectively Support Disabled, Neurodivergent and/or Mad Health Trainees to Enter the Health Workforce”

Essay Nine. “Navigating a Conflict with Your School’s Administration About Discrimination and Inaccessibility: A Guide for Health Trainees”

Essay Ten. “Disability-Related Abstract”