July 10, 2023 at 12:00 pm ET
Disabilities are body or mind impairments that make it more difficult for individuals to do certain activities and interact with the world. People with disabilities are diverse and have various needs because disabilities may affect vision, movement, thinking, remembering, learning, communicating, hearing, mental health, and/or social relationships. Approximately 26% of U.S. adults have disabilities; they vary by race/ethnicity and are more likely to be obese, to smoke, have heart disease, and have diabetes than adults without disabilities. People with disabilities express their lives and culture, infused from disability experiences; disabilities are part of their identity. In a culturally humble model of nutrition education, educators practice lifelong commitments to self-evaluation and critique, relieve power imbalances in the educator-client dynamic, and develop mutually beneficial and non-authoritarian partnerships with clients. Nutrition education that incorporates cultural humility, including disability culture, will be discussed for individuals with disabilities to promote inclusion, diversity, equity, and access. Organized by the Public Health Nutrition Division.