How can medical settings better support youth with neurodevelopmental disabilities?
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 was invited to provide live testimony during the online Public Forum (October 6-7, 2022).”
Submit Testimony to share your personal/professional perspectives.
SAFE Initiative 