Oral

This session offers several presentations of highly innovative conceptual explorations and quantitative studies on emerging topics in disability research. Two presentations deal with conceptual issues: One proposes a resolution to the uneasy relationship between public health-related disability research and the academic discipline of disability studies, and another explores competing paradigms for understanding the nature of autism and its relationship to public health. Each of the two quantitative presentations addresses a different emerging topic: One presents findings from a novel survey of emergency preparedness needs of people with disabilities and the other explores the question of the extent to which behavioral issues among people with traumatic brain injuries results in discrimination against them and their attendants and caregivers.

Session Objectives: Identify emerging conceptual issues regarding the relationship between disability and public health. Describe issues in emergency preparedness particular to people with various disabilities. Discuss the relationship between behavioral issues and discrimination against people with specific disabilities.

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH)