People with disabilities share what they most want health care providers to know

Released as an unlimited-run for health care providers everywhere, "In Our Own Words: Improving Care for People with Disabilities" is a two-part video series that debuted June 14, 2023, on Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid's YouTube channel. The first installment, "Communication," is playing now. The second, "Understanding," is set to drop June 21. Both are subtitled in Spanish.

Enlightening and powerful, the voices featured in this production reveal with sheer frankness what works and what doesn’t work for members of the disability community in health care settings. "They describe and refute assumptions made by some physicians and health care professionals but also praise the ways other providers make meaningful connections," says MDLC Public Health Advocate Anna Phearman.

Produced in partnership with the University of Minnesota's Institute on Community Integration and Special Olympics Minnesota, the intended audience for the series are health care professionals. However, Phearman adds, "Anyone and everyone can benefit. We produced this series to be a voice of empowerment. Getting people thinking about how they can promote health equity for the disability community is the goal.”

Distributors will be Mid-MN Legal Aid's Minnesota Disability Law Center—direct to providers—but key distributors will be health care recipients themselves.