Episode 129: Disclosure Part 3: Creating the Conditions for Disclosure
DocsWithDisabilities
Part 3: Creating the Conditions for Disclosure What makes disability disclosure feel safe, supported, and meaningful in healthcare? In the final episode of the Disclosureseries, we move beyond the barriers to examine the conditions that allow disclosure to lead to access, trust, and belonging. Through the perspectives of medical students, physician assistant students, fellows, physicians, and educators, this episode explores how institutional systems, responsive accommodations, inclusive leadership, and everyday acts of advocacy shape disclosure experiences across medical training and...
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Episode 128: The Disclosure Series, Part 2: Medical Culture, Stigma, and What Prevents Disclosure
DocsWithDisabilities
Series Description Disclosure is a three-part podcast series from the Docs with Disabilities Podcast that examines one of the most personal and consequential decisions disabled healthcare providers make: whether, when, and how to disclose a disability. Through the voices of medical students, residents, practicing physicians, psychologists, nurses, researchers, legal scholars, and disability advocates, the series explores disclosure as an ongoing process shaped by identity, institutional culture, ableism, and power. Blending lived experience with research and policy, the series challenges...
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Episode 127: The Disclosure Series, Part 1: The Decision to Disclose
DocsWithDisabilities
Series Description Disclosure is a three-part podcast series from the Docs with Disabilities Podcast that examines one of the most personal and consequential decisions disabled healthcare providers make: whether, when, and how to disclose a disability. Through the voices of medical students, residents, practicing physicians, psychologists, nurses, researchers, legal scholars, and disability advocates, the series explores disclosure as an ongoing process shaped by identity, institutional culture, ableism, and power. Blending lived experience with research and policy, the series challenges...
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Episode 126: Evidence to Action: Live Panel at ICAM 2026
DocsWithDisabilities
From Evidence to Action: Incorporating Disability Inclusion in Medical Training and Practice (ICAM 2026) Session Description The ICAM Series | Recorded Live at the International Congress on Academic Medicine (ICAM) What does it take to move disability inclusion from research and policy into everyday medical training and practice? Recorded live at the International Congress on Academic Medicine (ICAM) in Ottawa, Canada, this special episode of the Docs With Disabilities Podcast brings together an extraordinary panel of physician leaders, educators, and advocates working to transform disability...
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Episode 125: The Call is Coming From Inside the House
DocsWithDisabilities
Interviewees: Neera Jain, PhD — Senior Lecturer, Centre for Medical and Health Sciences Education, Waipapa Taumata Rau, The University of Auckland Hannah Kakara Anderson, PhD, MBA — Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania Abigail (Abby) Konoposky, PhD— Director of Medical Education Research, Department of Psychiatry, Northwell Interviewer: Lisa Meeks, PhD, MA — Professor of Medical Education, The University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago; Host, the Docs With Disabilities Podcast Description: In this...
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Episode 124: Mapping the Landscape of Technical Standards: A Nationwide Review of Medical Schools
DocsWithDisabilities
Interviewees: Carol Haywood, PhD, OTR/L — Assistant Professor, Medical Social Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Chris Moreland, MD, MPH — Professor of Internal Medicine; Division Chief for Hospital Medicine; Interim Associate Chair for Faculty Affairs and Development, Dell Medical School (Comments made in ASL and voiced through interpreters) Interviewer: Lisa Meeks, PhD, MA — Guest Editor, Academic Medicine Supplement on Disability Inclusion in Undergraduate Medical Education Description: In this episode of Stories Behind the Science, we sit down with Dr....
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Episode 123: Evaluating Disability-Inclusive Content on U.S. Medical Schools’ Websites: A National Study
DocsWithDisabilities
Episode 123: Evaluating Disability-Inclusive Content on U.S. Medical Schools’ Websites—A National Study Interviewees: Ifeoma Ikedionwu, MD — Psychiatry and Internal Medicine Dual Intern, UT Southwestern Dominique Cook — Fourth-Year Medical Student, University of South Florida Interviewer: Lisa Meeks, PhD, MA — Guest Editor, Academic Medicine Supplement on Disability Inclusion in Undergraduate Medical Education Description: In this episode of Stories Behind the Science, Dr. Lisa Meeks sits down with Dr. Ifeoma Ikedionwu and Dominique Cook, co-authors of the first national study...
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Episode 122: Clinical Accommodations in Undergraduate Medical Education
DocsWithDisabilities
Interviewees: Matthew Sullivan, PhD, Assistant Director of Disability Resources, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis Suchita “Suchi” Rastogi, PhD. MPH Candidate, University of Illinois Chicago; CEO, Disability in Medicine Mutual Mentorship Program Interviewer: Lisa Meeks, PhD, MA, Guest Editor, Academic Medicine Supplement on Disability Inclusion in Undergraduate Medical Education Description: In this episode of Stories Behind the Science, Dr. Lisa Meeks talks with Matt Sullivan (Washington University School of Medicine) and Suchita “Suchi” Rastogi (UIC; DM3P) about...
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Episode 121: Promoting Disability Inclusion Through an Expanded Conceptual Framework of the Learning Environment
DocsWithDisabilities
Interviewee: Erick Hung, MD, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Associate Dean for Students, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine Interviewer: Lisa Meeks, PhD, MA, Guest Editor, Academic Medicine Supplement on Disability Inclusion in Undergraduate Medical Education Description: In this episode of Stories Behind the Science, Dr. Lisa Meeks talks with Dr. Erick Hung (UCSF) about his paper, “Promoting Disability Inclusion Through an Expanded Conceptual Framework of the Learning Environment,” part of the Academic Medicine supplement on Disability Inclusion in UME. Their...
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Episode 120: The Intersection of Disability, Race, Ethnicity, and Financial Background on Food Insecurity Among Medical Students
DocsWithDisabilities
Interviewee: Bassel Shanab, BS is a fourth-year medical student at the Yale School of Medicine. Interviewer: Lisa Meeks, PhD, MA, Guest Editor, Academic Medicine Supplement on Disability Inclusion in UME. Description: This episode of Stories Behind the Science sits down with Bassel Shanab (Yale School of Medicine), co-first author of “The Intersection of Disability, Race, Ethnicity, and Financial Background on Food Insecurity Among Medical Students,” part of the Academic Medicine supplement on Disability Inclusion in UME. We move beyond prevalence rates to the lived realities...
info_outlineInterviewees: Raffi Najarian and Justin Ramsey
Interviewer: Lisa Meeks
Description: In this conversation, Lisa Meeks interviews Raffi Najarian and Justin Ramsey, both pediatric rehabilitation physicians with cerebral palsy. They discuss their journey to medical school and the challenges they faced along the way. Raffi shares his experience of applying to medical school and the support he received from his family. Justin talks about the internal barriers he faced and the importance of finding the right mentor. They also discuss the challenges they encountered during medical school, including access barriers. In this conversation, Raffi Najarian and Justin Ramsey discuss their experiences as medical students with disabilities. They share the challenges they faced in anatomy lab and how they overcame them. They also talk about dealing with difficult faculty members and the importance of kindness and feedback in medical training. Raffi and Justin explain why they chose physiatry as their specialty and the impact they have on their patients. They emphasize the importance of visibility and representation for individuals with disabilities in the medical field. Finally, they offer advice for students with disabilities who are considering a career in medicine.
Keywords: physiatry, medical education, doctors with disabilities, cerebral palsy, pediatric rehabilitation, med school applications, accessibility, accommodations, disability representation
Transcript: https://bit.ly/3yuxJf8
Bios:
Justin Ramsey, M.D. is board certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and is sub-specialty boarded in Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine. He graduated from the Kansas University School of Medicine. He then completed his Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation training at the Kansas University Medical Center and a fellowship program in Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine at Children’s Mercy Hospital (Kansas City, MO). Dr. Ramsey spent several years as faculty with the Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine fellowship program at Children’s Mercy Hospital and the Kansas University Medical Center’s Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department. He has served as chair of the Advocacy Committee for the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine and has served on its Communications Committee. Currently, he works at a private pediatric rehabilitation hospital (Bethany Children's Health Center) near Oklahoma City, which specializes in the care of children with disabilities. In collaboration with neurology and OU Health Science Center’s neurosurgery department, he has created Oklahoma’s joint pediatric movement clinic. He currently serves as the Associate Medical Director for the Movement clinic and Cerebral Palsy. He volunteers as a Clinical Associate Professor of Neurology at The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Justin has hemiparetic cerebral palsy and is active in local advocacy. He is married to his wife (Kendra) and has 2 beautiful young children (Ryan and Reese), who keep his family busy. Medical and disability education are some of his major subjects of interest. He is grateful for early college experiences in working with individuals with disabilities while volunteering at Hetlinger Developmental Services, Inc in his hometown of Emporia, KS.
Dr. Raffi Najarian has been in practice since 2013. He is a pediatric physiatrist and director of the Spasticity Clinic at Akron Children’s Hospital. A graduate of the University of Michigan and Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, MI, he completed his residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at MetroHealth Rehabilitation Institute of Ohio in Cleveland. He then completed a fellowship in Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine at Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare in Saint Paul, MN. Dr. Najarian has a special interest in cerebral palsy, spasticity management, brain injury, stroke, spinal cord injury, spina bifida, acute inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation and concussion management. He is certified by the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and subspecialty certified in Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine. He is a member of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine, and served on the latter's Lifespan Committee. He is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED). Raffi has diplegic cerebral palsy and is an advocate for children and adults with disabilities. He serves as a member of the United Cerebral Palsy Research Committee and on the board of directors for Adaptive Sports Ohio, while participating as an active member of the Akron Rhinos wheelchair rugby team.
Produced by: Gabe Abrams and Dr. Lisa Meeks.
Audio editor: Jacob Feeman
Digital Media: Katie Sullivan
Resources:
Professional Learning Series - United Cerebral Palsy,
UCP Research Initiative & Committee - United Cerebral Palsy,
Physicians' Perceptions Of People With Disability And Their Health Care