Program Schedule

Accessibility is when products, services, and facilities are built or modified so people of all abilities can use and understand them. Healthcare settings often struggle to address diverse access needs, burdening already under-served populations to create access and exacerbating existing health inequities. The American Medical Informatics Association’s (AMIA) AMIA’s commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) entails the opportunities, resources, and community needed for everyone to succeed. Patients, caregivers, and other healthcare consumers (herein consumers) may experience accessibility barriers, such as barriers stemming from disability, comprehension of medical information (health literacy), and communication of information (language barriers). Appropriately supporting diverse access needs requires ongoing, feedback-centered approaches grounded in personal experience and community support. Accessibility may be viewed as usability for all. In recent years, there has been a shift in healthcare research, design, and service delivery to include end-users' expertise through co-design. To adequately address accessibility barriers, consumer perspectives and voices must be heard through co-design. Despite the potential of co-design to empower consumers, there is little consensus on co-design terminology, methods, and evaluation strategies. This six-hour collaborative workshop uniquely engages the AMIA community with consumers often under-represented in medical informatics discussions. The workshop teaches how to apply main co-design strategies to improve accessibility and DEI in healthcare. The workshop facilitates hands-on, group-based activities organized around disability types and provides opportunities for interaction and applying skills through challenges. The workshop engages the AMIA community in discussions about engagement opportunities, resource development, research, outcomes, and impact.