Disabled people know from lived experience and community knowledge that our health and health care experiences are profoundly shaped by disability-related discrimination and structural ableism. So if we know this, why do we need public health research on ableism?
Health policymakers — who often rely on quantitative data to justify interventions — allocate remarkably few resources to addressing ableism. Instead, they invest heavily in efforts to "cure" disability, often prioritizing interventions that disabled people either do not want or consider less valuable than policy efforts to dismantle ableism. Building a peer-reviewed evidence base about the health effects of ableism and the benefits of efforts to reduce ableism is necessary to shift the priorities of policymakers and push back on other ableist research about disability.
Research Themes
I research the impacts of structural ableism on the health and health care experiences of people who are disabled, chronically ill, mad, and/or neurodivergent. I work primarily with quantitative methods but also use some qualitative and arts-based methods.
My research centers on four themes: (1) measuring structural ableism and quantifying the impacts of structural ableism on physical and mental health, (2) documenting and intervening on discrimination in health care settings, especially for mad people and people with mental illness in psychiatric care settings, (3) developing an evidence base and advocating for policy changes that advance equity for disabled people, and (4) interrogating and addressing ableism within healthcare and public health metrics, workforce training, employment, and leadership.
Independent Researcher
I work as an independent researcher. Why?
First off, I've experienced firsthand how the public health research system is fundamentally misaligned with the occupational needs of disabled researchers. Too often, it forces us out of the system or prevents us from advancing into positions of leadership.
Second, research on ableism remains largely unsupported by the field at large. While the National Institutes of Health have expressed greater interest in research on ableism since declaring people with disabilities a health priority population in 2023, the future of this work is uncertain under the Trump presidency where words like "disabled" and "discrimination" are being scrubbed from public documents and research on health disparities defunded.
Third, working independently allows me to take on a small number of projects I'm passionate about and collaborate with the people who are best suited to advance each one.