Teaching health care students about disability within a cultural competency context

The training of health care providers has been identified as key to resolving the health disparities experienced by persons with disabilities. We contend that: 1) cultural competency provides a useful conceptual framework for teaching disability-related content to health professions students; 2) educational experiences can be structured to reflect the socio-cultural complexity of the ‘disability culture;’ 3) desired competencies associated with culture can be defined with regard to professionals' approach to patients with disabilities; 4) exposure to persons who have disabilities in their homes allows the student to make connections between the nuances of daily life with a disability and one's health care needs; 5) the framework allows the disability culture to be integrated with other cultural contexts, including race and ethnicity; and 6) the framework acknowledges the potential impact of providers' conscious or unconscious recognition of their potential membership in the disability culture on their approach to patients with disabilities.