Key TakeawaysThe proportion of physicians identifying as disabled has increased in recent years.Despite the increase, researchers say stigma and biases persist, especially toward those with psychiatric disabilities.Medical residency applicants may face disparities in match rates across different specialties, with particularly low rates in general surgery and surgical subspecialties.

Key Takeaways

The proportion of physicians identifying as disabled has increased in recent years.Despite the increase, researchers say stigma and biases persist, especially toward those with psychiatric disabilities.Medical residency applicants may face disparities in match rates across different specialties, with particularly low rates in general surgery and surgical subspecialties.

When Lisa Meeks, PhD, started researching the prevalence of disabled doctors, she started with a bare foundation.“I started in 2015, just proving that people with disabilities existed. That was the first threshold I felt like I needed to pass through to even have this become established,” said Meeks, an associate professor of family medicine and learning health sciences at the University of Michigan.

One of her earlier studies, published inJAMAin 2016, found 2.7% of medical students identified as having a disability.

“It was not particularly surprising, but alarming indeed, to have your suspicions confirmed that the gap, the inequity for applicants with disability is most pronounced among general surgery and surgical subspecialties, including orthopedic surgery, with a match rate of below 60%, which is very, very low,” saidMytien Nguyen, MSc, a coauthor of the study and an MD-PhD candidate at Yale School of Medicine.

Persistent Biases Against Disabled Doctors

Overall, although disabled applicants represent less than 6% of the applicant pool, many had match rates comparable to their peers. But disabled people often don’t self-disclose on workplace and employment documentation. TheU.S. Bureau of Labor Statisticsestimates that around 13% of Americans are disabled. Of this group, only 37.1% of those aged 16–64 are employed.

In the eyes of Meeks and her colleagues, those same stigmas persist in the medical field.

Meeks said this bias is often directed at those with psychiatric disabilities, with the prevailing perception being that doctors with mental health disabilities couldn’t or shouldn’t be able to do their jobs.

However, only 3.5% of the surveyed physicians—or 25 out of 714—have disability accommodations at work.

Addressing Stigma in Medical Training

Meeks said obstetrics and gynecology is a specialty where she believes the presence of disabled doctors can shift the bias disabled patients face. She described the training environment and the residency matching process in this field as “unforgiving.” Both Meeks and Nguyen expected the gap to be much larger than it was.

Around 25% of the current research on health disparities among people with disabilities is focused on women, according to Meeks. This focus highlights the persistent biases that disabled women face.

A recent systematic review identified a wide range of reasons disabled women struggle to receive adequate medical care, including cost, healthcare providers’ lack of knowledge, and insufficient accommodations.

“If we can bring more physicians with disabilities into OBGYN, there is a pathway to practice that is direct to reducing these perceptions of what it means to be disabled,” she said.

Another further area for exploration is whether disabled doctors are, implicitly or explicitly, being pushed towards certain specialties, according to Nguyen.“I wonder whether there is a significant drop off from matriculation and what students originally wanted to go into,” Nguyen said. “Because oftentimes advice during medical school, either counseling or subconscious or hidden curriculum, often deter students from specific specialty because of the chance of matching.”

Despite all the negativity that tends to stem from research into disability representation in the medical workforce, Meeks said the small increase in the number of doctors with disabilities offers a glimmer of hope. She and her colleagues believe this data can help dismantle the misconception among residency program administrators that they have far fewer disabled matches than they actually do.“[This] data can be used to disrupt the assumptions that some people in those professions may make about who is amongst them in their training programs,” Meeks said.

What This Means for YouWhile the number of doctors with disabilities is slowly increasing, significant challenges and biases remain. These biases not only affect the career trajectories of disabled doctors but also mirror broader attitudes toward disabled patients within the medical community. Researchers hope their data will continue to bolster efforts to improve representation and inclusivity for disabled individuals in health care.

What This Means for You

While the number of doctors with disabilities is slowly increasing, significant challenges and biases remain. These biases not only affect the career trajectories of disabled doctors but also mirror broader attitudes toward disabled patients within the medical community. Researchers hope their data will continue to bolster efforts to improve representation and inclusivity for disabled individuals in health care.

4 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Meeks LM, Herzer KR.Prevalence of self-disclosed disability among medical students in US allopathic medical schools.JAMA. 2016;316(21):2271–2272. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.10544Nguyen M, Meeks LM, Sheets ZC, et al.Outcomes of the main residency match for applicants with disability.JAMA. Published online April 17, 2024. doi:10.1001/jama.2024.5000Iezzoni LI, Rao SR, Ressalam J, et al.Physicians’ perceptions of people with disability and their health care: study reports the results of a survey of physicians’ perceptions of people with disability.Health Affairs. 2021;40(2):297-306. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2020.01452Matin BK, Williamson HJ, Karyani AK, Rezaei S, Soofi M, Soltani S.Barriers in access to healthcare for women with disabilities: a systematic review in qualitative studies.BMC Womens Health. 2021;21(1):44. doi:10.1186/s12905-021-01189-5

4 Sources

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Meeks LM, Herzer KR.Prevalence of self-disclosed disability among medical students in US allopathic medical schools.JAMA. 2016;316(21):2271–2272. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.10544Nguyen M, Meeks LM, Sheets ZC, et al.Outcomes of the main residency match for applicants with disability.JAMA. Published online April 17, 2024. doi:10.1001/jama.2024.5000Iezzoni LI, Rao SR, Ressalam J, et al.Physicians’ perceptions of people with disability and their health care: study reports the results of a survey of physicians’ perceptions of people with disability.Health Affairs. 2021;40(2):297-306. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2020.01452Matin BK, Williamson HJ, Karyani AK, Rezaei S, Soofi M, Soltani S.Barriers in access to healthcare for women with disabilities: a systematic review in qualitative studies.BMC Womens Health. 2021;21(1):44. doi:10.1186/s12905-021-01189-5

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Meeks LM, Herzer KR.Prevalence of self-disclosed disability among medical students in US allopathic medical schools.JAMA. 2016;316(21):2271–2272. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.10544Nguyen M, Meeks LM, Sheets ZC, et al.Outcomes of the main residency match for applicants with disability.JAMA. Published online April 17, 2024. doi:10.1001/jama.2024.5000Iezzoni LI, Rao SR, Ressalam J, et al.Physicians’ perceptions of people with disability and their health care: study reports the results of a survey of physicians’ perceptions of people with disability.Health Affairs. 2021;40(2):297-306. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2020.01452Matin BK, Williamson HJ, Karyani AK, Rezaei S, Soofi M, Soltani S.Barriers in access to healthcare for women with disabilities: a systematic review in qualitative studies.BMC Womens Health. 2021;21(1):44. doi:10.1186/s12905-021-01189-5

Meeks LM, Herzer KR.Prevalence of self-disclosed disability among medical students in US allopathic medical schools.JAMA. 2016;316(21):2271–2272. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.10544

Nguyen M, Meeks LM, Sheets ZC, et al.Outcomes of the main residency match for applicants with disability.JAMA. Published online April 17, 2024. doi:10.1001/jama.2024.5000

Iezzoni LI, Rao SR, Ressalam J, et al.Physicians’ perceptions of people with disability and their health care: study reports the results of a survey of physicians’ perceptions of people with disability.Health Affairs. 2021;40(2):297-306. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2020.01452

Matin BK, Williamson HJ, Karyani AK, Rezaei S, Soofi M, Soltani S.Barriers in access to healthcare for women with disabilities: a systematic review in qualitative studies.BMC Womens Health. 2021;21(1):44. doi:10.1186/s12905-021-01189-5

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