Making Healthcare More Accessible: Free Tool for Clinicians and Patients
Getting healthcare can be hard. For many people, it helps to say ahead of time what they need — and their care team is ready to help. This tool uses universal design. That means offering things in many different ways, so people can choose what works best for them. It is for everyone — not just people who have asked for accommodations. The more comfortable patients feel, the better visits go. That is good for patients — and for clinicians.
Possible Ways to Use This Tool
For Clinicians
- Offer this to all new patients — not only those who have disclosed a diagnosis or requested an accommodation
- Create your own version based on some of these ideas
- Incorporate a few of these offerings into your existing workflow for new patient onboarding
For Patients and Families
Get ideas for what to ask for, and ways to tell your care team what helps you.
“By simply offering this form, the practice is sending a message to the patient: we care about your needs.”
– Primary care clinician reviewer
More Resources from All Brains Belong VT
For everyone
- A Failure of Imagination: How the Healthcare System Fails Neurodivergent People—And What We’re Doing Instead
- Brain Club® – virtual community education about neuroinclusive culture
For Clinicians
For Patients and Families
- Brain Club® Digital Resource Library
- Kid & Teen Connections
- Healthcare & employment resources
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Acknowledgments
This “universal design” menu was co-created with more than 50 neurodivergent patients and members of the All Brains Belong community. We would also like to acknowledge the following clinicians for reviewing and providing feedback to adapt our menu to more traditional healthcare settings: Yadira Acevedo MD, Hannah Bloom MOTR/L, Laura Bujold DO, Tina D’Amato DO, Emily Day NP, Cheryl Harris RD, Heather Holland OT, Sarah Johnson NM LMT, Pranav Kapoor MD, Donna Kirchoff MD, Moriah Krason MD, Anita Lasko CRNA, Jessica Macleod APRN, Molly Parker DO, Jessica Patterson PhD, Ali Petrick OT, Miriam Sturgis MD, Alex Tentler MD, Kate Walis MD, Gabrielle Worzella DO.
Special thanks to the Organization for Autism Research (OAR) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the Autism Intervention Research Network on Physical Health (AIR‐P) grant for supporting parts of this project. We are also deeply grateful for the generous contributions of our community members who have supported this project with their time, skills, and philanthropy.