Introduction to Global Disability Issues aims to introduce students to the importance of disability issues in the global context and equip students with the skills to conduct disability-inclusive research and advance inclusive health practice for this population.

Upon completion of this Short Course, students will be able to:

1. Explain different ways of defining disability and the major types of impairment leading to disability in the global context;
2. Apply skills to conduct research involving persons with disabilities, including identification of disability within surveys;
3. Identify the health needs of people with disabilities and barriers they may experience to accessing healthcare globally;
4. Apply skills to develop solutions to help address these barriers.

By building on specific examples from the ICED’s work, this Short Course will cover the following topics:

• Conceptualising disability: What is disability? What are the common conceptual models of disability? Why are disability issues important and why is disability inclusion needed?
• Measuring disability: What are the major types of impairment leading to disability, and what is their global distribution? How can disability be measured?
• Research and disability: How can we identify persons with disabilities in research? What are additional considerations when doing survey or qualitative research with persons with disabilities? What are participatory and inclusive approaches for doing research with persons with disabilities?
• Health needs: Why are people with disabilities at risk of poor health? What are the barriers that persons with disabilities face to accessing healthcare in different global settings?
• Developing inclusive solutions: How can we improve access to general health services for people with disabilities in different global settings? How can we improve access to rehabilitation?