By definition, in public health we are interested in health outcomes at the population level. Whether we are collecting data from study participants, conducting epidemiologic analyses, or drafting manuscripts, public health work makes contributions to narratives about the health and life chances of entire groups of people. This is a profound responsibility that we must take seriously at every stage of our work as epidemiologic scientists and public health professionals.
Unfortunately, public health as a field has not historically lived into this commitment for disabled people. However, work within public health that embraces social models of disability and other approaches that challenge the hegemony of medical models has been growing. I hope to contribute to these disciplinary shifts by focusing my epidemiologic inquires on the impacts of ableism - or the many ways in which disabled people experience marginalization and subjugation in society - on health outcomes for disabled people.
My focus on the understanding the relationship between ableism and health is inspired by decades of struggle among disabled people, like Lois Curtis, who dare imagine new ways of being with and relating to each other in the face of state violence and other harm. As a person with mobility and chronic pain disabilities, I believe that this lineage of work has much to offer a public health that seeks to ensure the conditions that support the well-being of all communities. I am dedicated to epidemiologic investigation that affirms the dignity of disabled populations and to contributing to a field in which disabled people can imagine themselves advancing the health of our communities.
A reminder to myself: "If you find a book you really want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it." - Toni Morrison