Special Needs

Articles

Teaching your child life skills is an act of sustained, patient work. You're not just trying to check boxes. You're trying to expand what...medication, describing symptoms, scheduling appointments. Communication and self-advocacy: Asking for help, stating preferences, understanding rights, navigating...

...leadership training before making investment decisions on disability research. This lag reflects institutional blind spots, not active avoidance. Small patient populations don't generate the donor urgency that cancer or heart disease do. Academic prestige doesn't cluster around disability research the way...

...applications follow institutional capacity. Larger patient advocacy organizations generate political pressure,...follow institutional capacity. Larger patient advocacy organizations generate political pressure, which...funding hierarchy that correlates more closely with advocacy infrastructure than medical need. Within each...

...life. Overcoming Obstacles. Parents of blind children face many unique challenges, but they also have unique strengths. They are often incredibly patient and resourceful, and they have to be. They have to advocate for their child in a world that is not always designed with them in mind. But they do it,...

...about her experience going from a pediatric clinic to an adult clinic. This patient explains to us her common concern that so many others experience. Lisa Greene...new doctor didn't care about me as a person and that I was just another patient to her…I'm naturally a shy person and after that first disaster of an appointment,...

...requirements, and states can only expand it, not narrow it. Right now, patient advocacy groups for sickle cell disease, HIV, and other chronic conditions...requirements, and states can only expand it, not narrow it. Right now, patient advocacy groups for sickle cell disease, HIV, and other chronic conditions are actively...

...Medicare or Medicaid funding to have accessible patient portals, telehealth platforms, websites, and kiosks...digital systems right now. If your provider's patient portal or telehealth app is inaccessible after...requires digital health services, including websites, patient portals, telehealth platforms, mobile apps, and...

The deadline for healthcare providers to make their websites, patient portals, and telehealth platforms accessible is May 11, 2026, just six days...keyboard navigation, and other assistive technologies. If your doctor's patient portal still can't be navigated with a screen reader, or your child's telehealth...

...state's budget shortfall, which results from the end of pandemic-era federal funding and a decrease in Iowa's Federal Medical Assistance Percentage. Patient advocates report that state administrators appear to be quietly reining in Medicaid spending by cutting services for people with disabilities. Multiple...

...have until May 11, 2027 to make their websites, patient portals, and mobile apps meet accessibility standards....setback. You'll continue to face inaccessible patient portals, online scheduling systems, and telehealth...for Families. If you can't access your child's patient portal because it doesn't work with a screen reader,...

...how to find providers who will take your call. Start at 14: Build Self-Advocacy Skills Before You Need Them. The work of transition starts years before...change to a provider who doesn't know their history? Adult medicine assumes patients can answer all three. If your young adult can't yet, start now. At the...

HR asked you to provide medical documentation for your accommodation request. Or you're a healthcare provider and your patient's employer wants a letter confirming their need for workplace modifications. Either way, you're not entirely sure what belongs in that letter. The...