Society for Nurses with Disabilities

 This JAN webpage addresses important points around " Accommodating Nurses with Disabilities ." How many nurses with disabilities are working today? Are nurses with disabilities required to disclose their disability to their employers? Can an employer ask nurses with disabilities to submit to a medical examination?

Bethany J. Baker, BSN, RN, a graduate from the University of North Florida School of Nursing. Watch this Facebook video where she repeats the Florence Nightingale Pledge in American Sign Language (ASL). 

The following article on NewMobility.com provides examples of nurses who use wheelchairs. The article includes a story about a nurse who was working in neurosurgery intensive care nursing when she began experiencing symptoms of multiple sclerosis. A nursing student who broke her neck in a fall. A pediatric nurse who contracted malaria in Ghana and had to have all four limbs partially amputated. A nurse who experienced an auto accident with a C5-6 incomplete burst fracture. A nurse who has transverse myelitis and hip dysplasia. A nurse with an autoimmune disease. A nurse who fell rock climbing and sustained a T9 complete spinal cord injury. Read the complete story here:  http://www.newmobility.com/2019/04/nurses-on-wheels/

While the following study was conducted in Japan, what can other countries learn from this? The Influence of Supportive and Ethical Work Environments on Work-Related Accidents, Injuries, and Serious Psychological Distress among Hospital Nurses. The healthcare industry in Japan has experienced many cases of work-related injuries, accidents, and workers' compensation claims because of mental illness. This study examined the influence of supportive and ethical work environments on work-related accidents, injuries, and serious psychological distress among hospital nurses. Self-reported questionnaires were distributed to nurses (n = 1114) from 11 hospitals. Valid responses (n = 822, 93% women, mean age = 38.49 ± 10.09 years) were used for analyses. The questionnaire included items addressing basic attributes, work and organizational characteristics, social capital and ethical climate at the workplace, psychological distress, and experience of work-related accidents or injuries in th...

There is an online movement to increase awareness about healthcare professionals who have disabilities. You may have seen the hashtags # DocsWithDisabilities and # NursesWithDisabilities on social media websites like Twitter. The goal of the #DocsWithDisabilities/#NursesWithDisabilities Project is to share stories from the professional journeys of physicians and nurses with disabilities, in their own words. By featuring the real voices of health professionals with disabilities--including their struggles and successes--we hope to foster awareness, visibility, and community that brings together stakeholders from across medical education, clinical practice, and disability advocacy. The project is volunteer led, by a tight-knit group of clinicians, health educators and administrators, and advocates, with and without disabilities, based at the University of Michigan Medical School's Department of Family Medicine. Learn more here: bit.ly/docswithdisabilitiessubmit

Davidson PM, Rushton CH, Dotzenrod J, Godack CA, Baker D, Nolan MN. Just and Realistic Expectations for Persons with Disabilities Practicing Nursing. AMA J Ethics. 2016 Oct 1;18(10):1034-1040. doi: 10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.10.msoc1-1610. PubMed PMID: 2778002 Abstract The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability and requires schools to provide reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities. The profession of nursing is striving for diversity and inclusion, but barriers still exist to realizing accommodations for people with disabilities. Promoting disclosure, a supportive and enabling environment, resilience, and realistic expectations are important considerations if we are to include among our ranks health professionals who can understand, based on similar life experiences of disability, a fuller range of perspectives of the patients we care for.