Episode Details

Dr. Susan Haverkamp, featured on the IDD Health Matters podcast, discusses her work on improving health equity for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). She highlights the lack of reliable national health data due to insufficient identification methods and advocates for simple survey questions to address this gap. Haverkamp also shares her role in creating core healthcare competencies through a Delphi study, stressing the importance of understanding the social model of disability, improving clinician communication and clinical skills, and recognizing implicit biases. She emphasizes recent progress in medical education, growing community-engaged research, and the need to mentor future healthcare providers. Her final advice includes listening to people with IDD, investing in students, and addressing mental health vulnerabilities within the IDD population.