[NFBF-L] National Council on Disability Requests ASAP survey

Fri Jul 28 18:07:10 UTC 2023

Please distribute this message as widely as appropriate.

The following is a message from Kimie Eacobacci from the National Council on Disability concerning a survey being conducted by Advocates for Service Animal Partners (ASAP)to gather information about experiences of service animal partners when accessing health care. Please read this information and help us advance the need for better education to help end health care disparities among those of us who are disabled.

On July 11, 2023, Kimie wrote:

I wanted to share some background on NCD’s research to address the disparities that people with disabilities encounter in the healthcare system. NCD recently published a Framework to End Health Disparities for People with Disabilities, a product of strategic outreach; consultation with a "dream team" of 14 academics, medical professionals, and others whose work focuses on addressing the health disparities of people with disabilities. NCD’s framework begins with five core areas that NCD views as foundational for achieving health equity for people with disabilities, followed by numerous additional components that were identified by disability community leaders as being of critical importance. One key foundational plank is to require comprehensive disability clinical-care training in all US medical, nursing and other healthcare professional schools and requiring disability competency education and training of medical, nursing and other healthcare professionals.

NCD has heard from many disability advocates about the unique experiences they encountered due to poorly trained doctors who rely on stigma and misunderstandings about people living with a disability; however, NCD has not heard from service animal users. For that reason, NCD requested that ASAP provide any additional information to help shed light on the prevalence and experiences of people with disabilities with service animals who have experienced discrimination in healthcare settings. Once we have more information, we can determine how to incorporate the education about service animal users within this medical training requirement.

Kimie Eacobacci

National Council on Disability

Survey: Service Animal Users’ Experiences in Healthcare Facilities

The National Council on Disability (NCD), an independent federal agency charged with advising the President, Congress, and federal agencies about policies that affect people with disabilities, has recently requested that Advocates for Service Animal Partners (ASAP) provide information on the experiences of people with disabilities with service animals in healthcare settings. In order to assist NCD’s request for information, Advocates for Service Animal Partners is conducting this survey.

Please submit your survey responses by Monday, July 31 at 11:59 p.m. This survey should be completed by an individual with a disability who has or has had a service animal trained to do work or perform tasks for their benefit. Only take this survey if this applies to you and your experiences are in the United States. The survey can be found at

https://forms.gle/Rvc8MRC2W6AQTeAcA

Marion Gwizdala, President

Advocates for Service Animal Partners Inc.

386-ASAP411 (386-272-s7411)

Advocacy411 at gmail.com <mailto:Advocacy411 at gmail.com> 

About ASAP

                Advocates for Service Animal Partners (ASAP) is the only organization in the United States dedicated exclusively to supporting, protecting, and advancing  the civil rights of disabled individuals who use service animals to mitigate their disability and live full, productive, and independent lives. ASAP is a nationwide network of volunteer service animal advocates. Our goal is to encourage, educate, and support service animal handlers through printed and electronic publications, Informational webinars, recorded educational materials, and direct advocacy support, intervention, and mediation. In support of this mission, we also work to educate employers, governmental entities, private companies, housing accommodations, and the airline industry about the rights, responsibilities, and limitations of access under state and federal law.

The ASAP Service animal Information and Resource Hotline (ASAP211) allows service animal handlers and businesses alike the opportunity to speak with an advocate who is trained to answer questions about service animals and resolve access concerns as they occur. ASAP211 is available 24/7 by calling toll-free 855-ASAP211 (855-2727211).

 For more information about Advocates for Service Animal Partners, please visit our website at

https://ServiceAnimals.info <https://serviceanimals.info/> 

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