DisAbility Aware Healthcare

Most people feel that their healthcare professionals care, listen to them, and can be trusted to give good advice. They also say they are good observers, independent thinkers, and are accustomed to incorporating high quality new information into what they do. As a group, healthcare professionals are now also more open to examine who has been systematically excluded and to hear the voices of patients, particularly those who are vulnerable and underserved.

But most healthcare professionals are not familiar with new information about nonspeakers that highlight underestimated abilities and our communication access needs. The Spellers and Allies Advocacy Network feels that now is the time to launch our DisAbility Aware Healthcare Campaign in order to:

Educate them
Engage them
Enlist them to help change the framework of understanding about us
Work together to improve our life outcomes.

There are a huge number of healthcare professionals, and we cannot educate them all. We are focussing our efforts on a target group of those who are most likely to be involved in the care of nonspeakers and who have the ability to change others’ perceptions about us.

They include:

- Primary care providers – adult and pediatric
- Some specialists – developmental pediatricians and neurologists
- Behavioral health specialists – psychiatrists, psychologists, and therapists
- Occupational and physical therapists

Our Strategy

Just 3 steps!

Start with healthcare professionals that spellers have a personal or working relationship with by educating them about nonspeakers’ abilities and communication access needs. We want to focus on spellers’ personal healthcare team members and friends and family who are healthcare professionals. S&A has created a terrific two-page informational handout for healthcare professionals to get things rolling (see below).
Here’s the multiplier effect! We are asking these people who know us to connect us to others in our target group who organize conferences for healthcare professionals. They can do this by completing a very brief 5 question online survey. S&A members will meet with them to discuss opportunities to give conference presentations that are customized for each type of audience. If one of the healthcare professionals that you contact connects us to others, we will do our best to keep you in the loop about our progress.
We will also ask healthcare professionals that spellers know personally to connect us to thought leaders such as department chairs, division chiefs, program directors, and researchers. S&A members will meet with these thought leaders to develop opportunities to collaborate in other ways.

Take Action

WE NEED THE HELP OF EVERYONE IN THE SPELLERVERSE!

This is a big goal. The Spellers and Allies Advocacy Network members cannot reach it without the help of spellers, families, allies, practitioners, and CRPs everywhere!

It’s so easy for you to help us.

We want you to distribute the handout along with a cover letter to healthcare professionals that you know. We have created customizable template cover letters for you to send or hand to them. Each cover letter includes a QR code and live link to an online survey so that we can get feedback about our materials and also get connected to other healthcare professionals.

Click on the + sign to get started.

Just 5 Simple Steps!

Step 1: Download the Brochure for Healthcare Professionals.

Download as a PDF

Step 2: Download the Cover Letter Templates for members of your personal healthcare team, healthcare providers you know, and friends and family who are healthcare professionals.
Then customize a few fields in the letter.

Cover Letter - To Healthcare Team From Spellers

Download as a PDF
Download as a docx

Cover Letter - To Friends & Family From Spellers

Download as a PDF
Download as a docx

Cover Letter - From Ally/ Practitioner/ CRP

Download as a PDF
Download as a docx

Step 3: Distribute the 2-page informational handout, along with the appropriate cover letter, to your healthcare professionals.

Step 4: If you can, about 7-14 days after you distribute it, please send a Follow-up Letter to the recipients of the handout. The letter thanks them for reviewing the information, requests that they complete the brief online feedback survey (if they have not already), and asks them to connect us with other healthcare professionals.

Follow-up Letter - From Spellers

Download as a PDF
Download as a docx

Follow-up Letter - From Ally/ Practitioner/ CRP

Download as a PDF
Download as a docx

Step 5: Please post on your social media to let people know what you have done and the reactions you get from healthcare professionals. Please use the hashtags listed above in your posts. If you are not active on social media, we would love to publish what you write on the S&A social media accounts. Send us an email at spellers-allies@i-asc.org to collaborate on a social media post or blog. Include photos or short videos if you have them. Our communications team is happy to post it for you.

Instagram: iasc_spelling
Facebook: IASCspells
Linkedin: I-ASC

Practitioners and CRPs: Please encourage the spellers you work with to take action, too! We created a one-page flyer for you to post in your space and to hand to your spellers and their families. They can use the QR code on the flyer to access this webpage. It has everything they need to advocate for nonspeakers. Please consider using a spelling practice session to help your fluent spellers individualize the cover letter they will send with the educational handout to healthcare professionals they know.

Download the steps

SPELLERS EVERYWHERE CAN ADVOCATE FOR NONSPEAKERS!

Step 1: Click HERE to Download the 2 page S&A informational handout for healthcare professionals.

Step 2: Click HERE to download the Speller template cover letter to members of your personal healthcare team. Then customize a few fields in the letter.

Step 3: Click HERE to download the Speller template cover letter to friends and family who are healthcare professionals. Then customize a few fields in the letter.

Step 4: Distribute the 2 page informational handout with the appropriate cover letter to your personal healthcare team and to friends and family who are healthcare professionals.

Step 5: If you can, about 7-14 days after you distribute it, please send a follow up letter to the recipients of the handout. The letter thanks them for looking at the information, requests that they complete the brief online feedback survey (if they have not already done so) and asks them to connect us to other healthcare professionals. Click HERE to download this letter. There are several fields to customize in it.

Step 6: Please post on your social media to let people know what you have done and the reactions you get from healthcare professionals. Please use the hashtags listed above in your posts. If you are not active on social media, we would love to publish what you write on the S&A social media accounts. Send us an email at spellers-allies@i-asc.org to collaborate on a social media post or blog. Include photos or short videos if you have them. Our communications team is happy to post it for you.

ALLIES, PRACTITIONERS AND CRPs CAN HELP TOO!

We want allies, practitioners and CRP voices to be heard by healthcare professionals that you know. Please reach out to both friends and family who are healthcare professionals and your own personal healthcare team. Follow the steps below and use the documents created specifically for you to use.

Step 1: Click HERE to download the 2 page S&A informational handout for healthcare professionals.

Step 2: Click HERE to download the Ally, Practitioner, CRP specific template cover letter to healthcare providers you know. Then customize a few fields in the letter.

Step 3: Distribute the 2 page informational handout with the cover letter to your personal healthcare team and to friends and family who are healthcare professionals.

Step 4: If you can, about 7-14 days after you distribute it, please send a follow up letter to the recipients of the handout. The letter thanks them for looking at the information, requests that they complete the brief online feedback survey (if they have not already done so), and asks them to connect us with other healthcare professionals. Click HERE to download this letter.There are several fields to customize in it.

Step 5: Practitioners and CRPs, please encourage the spellers you work with to take action too! We created a one page flyer for you to post in your space and to hand to your spellers and their families. They can use the QR code on the flyer which links them to this webpage. It has everything they need to advocate for nonspeakers. Please consider using a spelling practice session to help your fluent spellers individualize the cover letter they will send with the educational handout to healthcare professionals they know. Click HERE to download this flyer.

Step 6: Please post on your social media to let people know on social media what you have done and the reactions you get from healthcare professionals. Please use the hashtags listed above in your posts. If you are not active on social media, we would love to publish for you what you write on the S&A social media accounts. Send us an email at spellers-allies@i-asc.org to collaborate on a social media post or blog. Include photos or short videos if you have them.