Project Description:
Health disparities between people of traditionally underserved racial and ethnic groups and White non-Hispanics have been well-documented. Despite some progress, there are continuing disparities in the incidence of illness and death among African Americans, Latino/Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, Alaskan Natives, and Pacific Islanders compared to the U.S. population as a whole (Goode & Dunne, 2003). More recently, disparities between people with and without disabilities have gained attention (Drum, Krahn, Culley, & Hammond, 2005). However, most studies on disability-related disparities have analyzed people with disabilities in the aggregate, without examining differences by race or ethnicity.
The health disparities experienced by underserved racial and ethnic groups are even greater among individuals who also have disabilities (Wolf, Armour, & Campbell, 2008). Health care and promotion services are often inaccessible, inappropriate, or unavailable to people with disabilities (USDHHS, 2005). Yet, little work has been done to explicitly examine the junction of race/ethnicity and disability in health care and health promotion efforts.
The Oregon Institute on Disability & Development at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), in collaboration with the National Center on Cultural Competence at Georgetown University (GU), the Institute on Disability and Human Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), the USC UCEDD at Childrens Hospital LA, the Institute for Disability Studies at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM), and the American Association on Health and Disability (AAHD), collaborated to Project Intersect: Addressing Health Disparities at the Intersection of Race/Ethnicity and Disability plans to address this gap by studying how disability, combined with race/ethnicity, relates to health care access and quality and the availability of health promotion programs.
Long-Term Goal: To reduce health disparities experienced by adults from underserved racial and ethnic groups with physical, sensory, and/or intellectual disabilities in the United States.
Objective 1: Identify current efforts to reduce racial/ethnic disparities in health care and health promotion and determine to what extent adults with disabilities are included in these efforts.
Objective 2: Uncover quantitative evidence of disparities in health care access and quality related to the combination of race/ethnicity and presence and characteristics of disability.
Objective 3: Identify existing information and generate new knowledge on barriers to health care experienced by members of underserved race/ethnicity groups with disabilities.
Objective 4: Develop and disseminate recommendations on ways to improve access to and quality of health care and health promotion efforts for people with disabilities in underserved racial/ethnic groups.
Unserved or Under-served Populations:
Racial or Ethnic Minorities, Disadvantaged Circumstances, Limited English, Geographic Areas, Urban, Specific Groups
