Disability & Diversity studies as a professional basis for diversity-aware education and training in medicine

The “Disability and Diversity Studies“ (DDS) are research fields which, similar to social work, deal with social inclusion and exclusion processes. Dimensions of disability and diversity can lead to disadvantages and inequalities in the individual life and social coexistence of people. The DDS examine these inequalities and identify intersectional relationships between diversity categories. The concept of intersectionality opens up the view of the restriction of diversities, which can lead to the intensification of inequalities and multiple discriminations: e. g., in the case of being a woman and member of an ethnic minority. The starting point is therefore not the difference category per se, but the intersection of several categories [5]. This knowledge of categorizing classification and exclusion in their intersectionality is fundamental for the dissolution of social, societal, political and economic inequality. The DDS bachelor's program at the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, which combines Disability and Diversity Studies, focuses on these research areas and develops practical solutions. In medical education and training, too, it is essential that teachers and students, but also patients, recognise the complex interrelationships of divergences in medical practice and the resulting stigma that must be removed. The DDS can serve as a basis for taking these interrelationships into account, for incorporating creative approaches to solutions and a diversity-sensitive attitude into the doctor-patient relationship and medical treatment. For example, the first and so far only World Report on Disability from 2011 noted a still existing negative infiltration of doctor-patient-interactions through stigmatization of persons with disabilities and deviations. Misunderstandings, lack of knowledge and wrong presettings can endanger the treatment [32]. In order to create the framework conditions for an appropriate consideration of diversity and disability in the program, it is necessary to impart six core competencies to prospective physicians [20]: If possible, this should always be designed in the respective training courses of all health care professions in a patient-centred manner, across all occupational groups and under the premise “nothing for us without us“ [1]. This corresponds to the principles of Disability Studies.