Longitudinally integrated disability education in undergraduate medical training: a comprehensive approach

People with disabilities (PWD) face significant health disparities and barriers to care. Despite national calls for reform, disability education in undergraduate medical curricula remains inconsistent. This study primarily details the creation of a comprehensive disability curriculum at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (NUFSM)—including its alignment with established disability competencies—while also exploring its effectiveness. A longitudinally integrated disability curriculum was embedded across all four years of medical education. Curricular elements included interviews with PWD, interdisciplinary panels, functional mobility assessments, and immersive clinical experiences during the Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R) clerkship. Content was mapped to the 2019 Alliance for Disability in Health Care Education’s Core Competencies on Disability. NUFSM student preparedness to care for PWD was assessed through surveys of NUFSM and compared to visiting clerkship students who did not participate in the same longitudinal curriculum, analyzed with paired t -tests. The four year curriculum addressed all six Core Competencies on Disability and 38 of 49 sub-competencies. NUFSM students reported significantly greater preparedness to care for PWD compared with visiting students (mean scores 4.14 vs 3.25, p < 0.001). A longitudinal vertically and horizontally integrated disability curriculum was created and positively impacted student confidence. Broader adoption of similar models may help expand disability education and reduce inequities in healthcare for PWD.