Are your nutrition services inclusive of people with disability? One in four adults in the US live with a disability (e.g., sensory, mobility, intellectual). Disability crosses all races, ethnicities and socioeconomic levels and is especially common in adults 65 years and older, women, and people of color. Individuals with disabilities are two to three times more likely to have preventable diseases (e.g., obesity, diabetes, heart disease). Furthermore, people with disability are at higher risk for food insecurity. Nutrition professionals need to create an inclusive and welcoming environment for all people, including those with disabilities, to address nutrition-related conditions effectively and confidently. Two speakers from the National Center on Health, Physical Activity and Disability will explain the “Guidelines, Recommendations, Adaptations, Including Disability” adaptation framework. They will introduce barriers to inclusion for people with disabilities, summarize effective communication and inclusive teaching strategies, identify accessible clinic spaces, examine adapted cooking and gardening utensils and tools, describe kitchen accessibility, and detail rights to nutrition services and programming. An RDN with a disability who is also a high-performance athlete will provide practical applications.

This session is approved by CDR for ethics credit.