Sinai Health Bioethics Grand Rounds: Recognizing and addressing ableism in everyday ethical decision-making in health care | Virtual

Speaker:
Lee De Bie | Ethics Fellow, Unity Health

Abstract:
While most (if not all) patients we care for in acute and complex care settings could seek protection from discrimination by the Human Rights Code on the grounds of disability, we rarely recognize patients as potential members of a collective disability community. Ongoing work is underway by disabled people and their allies to change this. In 2022, the Health Care Standards Development Committee released their final recommendations for proposed health-care accessibility standards to be regulated under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) and Accreditation Canada. These calls for action urge health-care staff to take responsibility for overcoming attitudinal barriers, stereotypes and bias towards people with disabilities and learning how to provide accessible care within an anti-ableist and intersectional framework.

This presentation will draw on these proposed standards and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ratified by Canada in 2010 to examine (i) how ableism can affect everyday ethical decision-making, and (ii) opportunities to enact our responsibilities to recognize and address these potential inequities. We will also look beyond legislation and policy towards learning and sharing disability cultural consciousness to support decision-making of persons with disabilities.

Objectives:
• Consider disability-related perspectives on care and ethics
• Highlight ableism’s impact on decision-making, especially regarding capacity, consent, treatment and discharge
• Examine the role of human rights, accessibility laws, professional guidelines and disability community values in promoting accessible and anti-ableist ethical care

Click here to register.