Department of Preventive Medicine, SUNY at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, USA.
Am J Phys Med Rehabil. 2010 Nov;89(11):923-30. doi: 10.1097/PHM.0b013e3181ec939d.
Before the 1970s, many potential college and graduate students were denied admission or prevented from graduating because of their disabilities. Legislation such as the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 has sought to end such discrimination. In two previous studies, the proportion of graduating medical students with physical disabilities (MSPD) was found to be 0.23% (1980) and 0.19% (1990). This study sought to learn what effect passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 has had on the graduation of MSPD and the proportion of MSPD whose physical disability was identified before or after admission to medical school.
A questionnaire was sent to the deans of student affairs at all accredited medical schools in the United States (n = 123) to determine the proportion of MSPD who graduated during the years 2002-2005 and the onset of disabilities, either before or after admission to medical school.
The proportion of graduating MSPD was 0.15%. Furthermore, proportionately fewer graduating MSPD had preexisting physical disability in our study than in the study by Wu et al.
The findings suggest a continuing decline in the proportion of graduating MSPD. Implications of these findings are discussed.
在 20 世纪 70 年代之前，许多有潜力的大学生和研究生因为残疾而被拒绝入学或无法毕业。1973 年的《康复法案》和 1990 年的《美国残疾人法案》等立法旨在结束这种歧视。在之前的两项研究中，发现有身体残疾的医学毕业生（MSPD）的比例分别为 0.23%（1980 年）和 0.19%（1990 年）。本研究旨在了解 1990 年《美国残疾人法案》的通过对 MSPD 的毕业率以及在医学院入学前后确定身体残疾的 MSPD 比例有何影响。
向美国所有认可的医学院的学生事务院长（n=123）发送了一份问卷，以确定在 2002-2005 年期间毕业的 MSPD 比例，以及入学前后出现的残疾情况。
毕业的 MSPD 比例为 0.15%。此外，与 Wu 等人的研究相比，在我们的研究中，毕业的 MSPD 中先前存在身体残疾的比例较低。
研究结果表明，毕业的 MSPD 比例持续下降。这些发现的影响正在讨论中。
