Re-assessing physical disability among US medical schools

In 1996, one survey aimed to assess the prevalence of physical disabilities among medical school graduates in the 1987 through 1990 graduating classes. The study reported 64 graduating medical students with documented physical disability. This comprised 0.19% of the 33,138 students who graduated from the 67 medical schools.

This study seeks to determine what effects, if any, the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1991 has had on the admission rate of individuals with disabilities. A questionnaire is sent to the deans of student affairs at all accredited medical schools in the United States and Puerto Rico (n=125) in attempts to determine: (1) the prevalence of medical students with physical disabilities (MSPD) who graduated during the years 2000-2007, (2) the types of physical disabilities present, (3) the onset of disabilities, either before or during medical school, and (4) the academic standing of MSPD.

To date, 10 medical schools have returned their completed surveys. On the one hand, results appear to be favorable: 0.23% of the graduating medical students reported having documented disability. On the other hand, only two schools accounted for 85% of all graduating medical students with documented physical disability. Half of the medical schools reported having no graduating medical students with documented physical disability.

These results represent disturbing trends among US medical schools.