As part of our commitment to dismantling structural racism at UCSF and in society, the Office of Disability Access and Inclusion has been actively engaged in building initiatives and partnerships that align with UCSF Anti-Racism Initiative. Below is a non-exhaustive list.
1 - Safe, Welcoming & Healthy Climate
- Publication of the UCSF Toolkit for Accessible Events to ensure all UCSF constituents are aware of how to provide an accessible and disability-inclusive environment at in-person, remote, and hybrid events.
- ODAI provides training and consultation on disability access, inclusion, anti-ableism, access in healthcare environments and accessible events to UCSF departments. Training includes the Disability Justice framework (Sins Invalid, 2016).
- Recommendation: Always ensure disability is included in conversations of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Explicitly welcome people with disabilities to meetings, recruitment efforts, academics, research (when applicable), healthcare, and events and ensure all constituents know who to contact to requests reasonable accommodations.
2 - Address Anti-Racism Knowledge Gaps
- ODAI and the UCSF Committee and Disability Inclusion review the UCSF Climate Survey and make recommendations based on data related to constituents with disabilities.
- ODAI participates in cross-movement solidarity (Sins Invalid, 2016) by partnering with other identity-based programs and committees (e.g., Anti-Oppression Curriculum Initiative, School of Medicine) at UCSF toward ending systemic oppression of minoritized groups.
- Recommendation: ODAI suggests all UCSF entities aim to collect data on disability when applicable and ensure data analysis includes disaggregated disability data.
3 - Equity in Decision-Making
- UCSF welcomes individuals in underrepresented racial and ethnic groups with disabilities to apply for committee membership. UCSF aims to increase the number of leaders with multiple underrepresented identities (See Pillar #4).
- Recommendations: Ensure opportunities for committee membership, employment, and student admissions to intentionally welcome people with disabilities in addition to welcoming people of underrepresented racial identities and other groups. Include people with disabilities in decision-making related to policy and practice.
4 - Diversity in Leadership
- ODAI provides support to HR and Workforce Development in ensuring a partnership with the CA Dept. of Rehabilitation and other community-based organizations who may assist in developing a talent pipeline of people with disabilities.
- Coming Soon! ODO and HR will release version 2.0 of the UCSF Toolkit for Best Practices in Diversity Recruitment which will include new, in-depth information about marketing, recruitment, and onboarding information related to applicants and employees with disabilities for hiring managers.
- Recommendation: Ensure people with disabilities are invited to participate in decisions related to admissions, hiring, promotion/tenure, research funding opportunities, academic and healthcare programming, construction projects or major updates, committees, and other items whenever possible. Whether or not direct disability representation is available, ensure that disability access and inclusion are listed on the agenda and implicit bias is discussed among decision-makers.
5 - Equity in Patient Care
- ODAI’s Chief Accessibility and Inclusion Officer serves as Co-Chair of the Health Patient and Family Advisory Council (Disability and Inclusion) with members of the Health Experience team. Patients and family members with disabilities are encouraged to reach out for more information.
- ODAI is a partner in The UCSF Health Patient, Family, and Community Voice Taskforce. The Task Force will deliver policy recommendations on the inclusion of patient and community voices in health equity improvement efforts to the UCSF Health to the Health Equity Council for consideration. The goals of this task force are aligned with UCSF's Anti-Racism Initiative, which commits to valuing Black lives and dismantling systemic racism. It also addresses the priority health need identified in the Community Health Needs Assessment, specifically, “access to care.”
- The Chief Accessibility and Inclusion Officer is a member of the UCSF Health Equity Council, a group aiming to “ensure health equity is a UCSF Health strategic and operational priority that is driven by systematically identifying and eliminating healthcare disparities." (Health Equity Report, December, 2022)
- Recommendation: Ensure clinical programs are accessible and inclusive of patients, families, and other guests or patient representatives with disabilities.
- Recommendation: Ensure data on disability and intersections of race and disability is collected and analyzed to assist with patient experience and health equity priorities and outcomes.
6 - Commitment to the Bay Area
- ODAI is represented on the UCSF Core JEDI Climate Resilience Taskforce; a UC systemwide initiative in which UCSF participates. Individuals with disabilities (with emphasis on the effects disability and race on climate change, climate disasters, and effects and planning) are explicitly included in the planning and assessment process.
- ODAI works in close partnership with the SF Mayor's Office on Disability (MOD), the San Francisco State University Longmore Institute on Disability, and other local Bay Area resources to ensure a connection to the local disability community.
7- Equity in Research
- ODAI provides training to clinical researchers on accessible and inclusive research design to ensure people with disabilities who are often disproportionally represented in underrepresented racial groups.
- Recommendation: Support research about people with disabilities with underrepresented racial identities. More data on these groups are needed in the research canon.
- Recommendation: Include accessibility statements when recruiting research participants. Ensure Research protocol includes information and training for research staff on providing reasonable accommodations to participants. Provide accessible recruitment marketing and accessible participant and employee research database software.