AMA Journal of Ethics^®

Expanding the numbers of physicians with disabilities would facilitate patient-centered care for those who need similar accommodations.

The meaning of “disability” has shifted with US public policy changes over time. People with disability are protected under civil rights law, and open questions remain about whether and when policy-level interventions and reasonable accommodations create equal opportunity.

The law and medical ethics demand reconsideration of inflexible technical standards that are vulnerable to litigation under disability discrimination laws.

Medical school technical standards should be revised to be more inclusive of applicants with disabilities to diversify the physician workforce.

Rehabilitation environments are structured to accommodate cross-disciplinary patient care. In this story, one physician shares what she learned in a hospital playroom about rehabilitation, interprofessional collaboration, and patient-centered service delivery.

Women with disabilities may be prevented access to reproductive medicine due to discrimination and mistaken assumptions about disabled people.

Physicians must resist judging the quality of life of their patients with Down syndrome and learn to listen and see them as individual personalities.

Designation of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities as a medically underserved population would not solve problems of access to care.

Workplace wellness programs contribute to the wellness movement by enlisting nontraditional health partners and influencing social determinants of health.

Medical expert witnesses are ethically and legally obligated to provide honest testimony that meets the standards of the Daubert test.