Series Description
Disclosure is a three-part podcast series from the Docs with Disabilities Podcast that examines one of the most personal and consequential decisions disabled healthcare providers make: whether, when, and how to disclose a disability. Through the voices of medical students, residents, practicing physicians, psychologists, nurses, researchers, legal scholars, and disability advocates, the series explores disclosure as an ongoing process shaped by identity, institutional culture, ableism, and power. Blending lived experience with research and policy, the series challenges assumptions about disability in healthcare while illuminating pathways toward more inclusive learning, training, and practice environments.
Part 1: The Decision to Disclose
What does it really mean to disclose a disability in healthcare? In the first episode of the Disclosure series, healthcare providers across the continuum—from students and trainees to practicing clinicians—share the personal, professional, and institutional factors that shape disclosure decisions. Drawing on stories from medical students, residents, physicians, researchers, disability scholars, and legal experts, the episode explores disclosure as more than a pathway to accommodations—it can be an act of identity, advocacy, community-building, and resistance. At the same time, contributors examine the risks of stigma, discrimination, and institutional betrayal that continue to make disclosure a deeply complex and often uncertain decision.
Keywords:
- Disability disclosure
- Medical education
- Physicians with disabilities
- Medical students with disabilities
- Disability accommodations
- Ableism
- Disability inclusion
- Healthcare trainees
- Stigma
- Health professions education
Production Team:
Developer, Writer, Executive Producer: Sofia Schozman
Co Producers: Rylee Betchkal and Lisa Meeks
Co-Producer, Sound Selection and Editing: Gabe Abrams
Sound Production: Next Day Podcast
Digital Media: Katie Sullivan
Citations:
Anderson, H. L. K., Konopasky, A. W., Bullock, J. L., Meeks, L. M., & Jain, N. R. (2025). The Call is Coming from Inside the House: Racism and Ableism in US Medical Education. Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 0(0), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/10401334.2025.2581621
Evans, H. D. (2017). Un/covering: Making Disability Identity Legible. Disability Studies Quarterly, 37(1). https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v37i1.5556
Jain, N. R. (2020). Political disclosure: Resisting ableism in medical education. Disability & Society, 35(3), 389–412. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2019.1647149
Graduation Questionnaire (GQ). (n.d.). AAMC. Retrieved July 6, 2026, from https://www.aamc.org/data-reports/students-residents/report/graduation-questionnaire-gq
Stergiopoulos E, Fernando O, Martimianakis MA. "Being on Both Sides": Canadian Medical Students' Experiences With Disability, the Hidden Curriculum, and Professional Identity Construction Academic Medicine. 2018;93(10):1550-1559. doi:10.1097/ACM.0000000000002300.
Pereira-Lima K Meeks LM Ross KET, et al. Barriers to Disclosure of Disability and Request for Accommodations Among First-Year Resident Physicians in the US. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(5):e239981. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.9981
