Include us: doctors with disability call the Royal Australasian College of Physicians to action

As disabled doctors, we welcome efforts by Australian professional bodies to actively include doctors with disability.1 This is needed. Stark employment disparities expose ableism in the medical workforce: one in six Australians has a disability, but the prevalence of disability in doctors is only 3%.2, 3 The discrimination driving this inequity is structural, embedded in institutions, systems and societal culture.2, 4 It creates barriers to participation, and intersects with discrimination based on other grounds such as race, indigeneity, gender identity and age.4, 5 Workplace inclusion for disabled doctors should be undertaken through a social model of disability framework. This is foundational to the disability rights and neurodiversity movements, emphasising the removal of external barriers such as inaccessible systems and stigmatising beliefs.