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Three images from left to right. A doctor and a young child who is playing with a medical instrument. A family (mom, dad, and child) who is smiling. A doctor and a smiling baby with a stethoscope on the child's chest.

Supporting Access for Everyone (SAFE) is an interprofessional and stakeholder-driven initiative to establish best practices for supporting youth with neurodevelopmental disabilities in medical settings.

Engage With the SAFE Initiative

Submit your testimony by October 31, 2022!

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Submit Testimony

What makes medical care SAFE? Stakeholders are invited to submit testimony on how to support SAFE medical care for children with neurodevelopmental disabilities.

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View the Public Forum

Highlights from the submitted testimony were presented in a live virtual event on October 6-7, 2022. View the agenda here. A recording of the forum is forthcoming.

View Agenda
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Meet the Consensus Panel

Learn more about the experts and advocates that will use the testimony, forum, and research to write a Consensus Statement on SAFE best practices.

View Bios

Call for Testimony Submission is Open

Submit Testimony

Many children with neurodevelopmental disabilities experience extreme stress and behavioral dysregulation in medical settings. These challenges can result in delayed and reduced access to care, as well as increased risk for injury and avoidable restrictive practices. While hospitals and clinics have started implementing strategies to optimize access to medical environments, there is no mechanism to share strategies and limited research to inform practice.  

The Supporting Access for Everyone (SAFE) Initiative seeks support from community and professional stakeholders to assemble existing best practices for optimizing medical environments for children with neurodevelopmental disabilities, including autistic children. To inform a consensus statement on best practices, everyone with professional and/or lived experience is invited to provide testimony and attend the public forum to inform published evidence and expert knowledge.

Help us answer these key questions:

  • What do medical professionals need to know and do differently?
  • How can hospitals proactively make medical settings more accommodating?
  • How can scheduling, care delivery, and other processes make care more accessible?
  • What systems and policies should change to advance health equity?

All submissions will be reviewed by the Consensus Panel. A representative subset of individuals who submitted testimony were invited to provide live testimony during the online Public Forum (October 6-7, 2022).

Submit testimony to share your personal/professional perspectives, and to indicate if you would also be interested in providing live testimony at the Public Forum (if invited to do so).