Anatomy Curricular Changes Through the Lens of Universal Design

Disability has high prevalence worldwide (WHO, 2023) and nationwide (CDC, 2020).
There is a mismatch between overall disability rates in communities compared with physicians (Nouri, 2021) and trainees (Meeks, 2020). This is compounded by paucity of disability content in medical education contributing to the ongoing cultural framework of interpersonal, institutional and internalized ableism (Kaundina, 2022). As educators and clinicians, we should strive to dismantle ableism in medical school education (Villines, 2021 & Kaundina, 2022).
As Universal Design of architecture has reduced barriers to improve access for people with apparent disabilities, Universal Design of Learning (UDL) can lead to increased awareness and prevalence of neurodiversity among medical students and future clinicians (Fitzpatrick, 2023). UDL is an evidence-based proactive approach to improving access in curriculum design for learners of all abilities (Houghton, 2022). We will highlight specific examples of how medical school faculty at the University of New Mexico have employed an iterative process to applying UDL to anatomy content.