Disability Health Education Initiative
The Disability Health Education Initiative
(DHEI)
Building a healthcare workforce that is confident, prepared, and compassionate—for every patient, every time.
People with disabilities represent the largest minority group in the United States. Yet most clinicians receive little to no formal training in disability-inclusive care.
The Disability Health Education Initiative (DHEI) is addressing a critical gap in medical education by advancing disability-focused training within physician assistant (PA) programs, thereby promoting greater clinical competence, equity, and quality of care for individuals with disabilities.
A National Gap in
Medical Education
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PA programs rarely include structured disability-health training
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Clinicians feel unprepared, anxious, or unsure how to communicate effectively
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Patients experience disparities in diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up care
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Families bear the burden of explaining, advocating, and educating providers
This is a systemic issue—one with preventable consequences.
OUR SOLUTION:
Disability-Health Education Designed for Real Clinical Practice
DHEI develops and delivers:
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Evidence-based curriculum modules
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Clinical simulations
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Faculty training
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Case-based learning centered on real family experiences
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Tools to build disability confidence and emotional intelligence
Our programs integrate lived experience, clinical expertise, research, and national standards
"My precious brother Guy sustained a traumatic brain injury at age five after being hit by a truck while he was flying a kite. I was his devoted sister, caregiver, and fierce advocate for 55 years. Guy’s life revealed the disparities in disability healthcare. His story inspired my mission."
Kendra Clark, Founder
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Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow LOVE;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.