MDisability Provider Webinar Series Archive

The first webinar of the 2024 series was held on April 11 with a dynamic presentation by Erik Robeznieks, MBA, presenting, "Examining the Landscape and Opportunities of Collegiate Adaptive Sports Programs". 

This session explores the background of collegiate adaptive sports, the current landscape, and adaptive sports initiatives at the University of Michigan.

College is a time of rapid growth and social development for society’s next generation of leaders. A formative, post-secondary education should give students the skills to be proficient in work, life, and citizenship. However, despite the 30-plus years of the ADA, many aspects of daily life -- including sports – continue to exclude people with disabilities.

Collegiate athletics can unite students, faculty, staff, researchers and those among the academic disciplines to build connections within the broader community. Right now, collegiate adaptive sports is experiencing a movement that aims to address gaps for people with disabilities and engage internal and external stakeholders to create equal access to sports for people with and without disabilities.

Objectives:

• Expand understanding and knowledge of what a college-based adaptive sports program can look like including both action-oriented and reflective learning components that focus on inclusion and ableism.
• Explore how institutions can effectively collaborate, engage, and involve students, faculty, staff, and administrators to initiate and sustain an adaptive and inclusive sports program on and off campus.
• Create strategies to influence collegiate and community leaders who have the authority and purview to change campus culture to become more inclusive of students who have a disability.

Erik Robeznieks Bio

Following a career in able-bodied sports, Erik earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology and Health Science from York University in Toronto. After being introduced to the world of para sport, Erik worked with Wheelchair Basketball Canada, managing operations for its national programs. This included serving as a member of Team Canada at the Rio 2016 Paralympics, as well as several other major international competitions.

With an ignited passion for leading and developing sport programs, Erik went on to earn his MBA at Toronto Metropolitan University, which culminated in his thesis, "Examining the Potential Inclusion of Adaptive Sport in the NCAA.” His thesis addressed issues of law, equity, and sociocultural perceptions of disability and adaptive sport, as well as program development.

In 2020, Erik was appointed assistant director of the Adaptive Sports & Fitness (ASF)(link is external) program at the University of Michigan under the leadership of Oluwaferanmi O. Okanlami, MD, MS, associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine. In his current position, Erik has had the opportunity to use many of the skills, activities and life lessons he has learned as a para sports athlete.

Under his leadership, ASF supports recreational and competitive wheelchair tennis; wheelchair basketball; para track and field; and wheelchair rugby. The program is also leading the nation in embedding para sports in K-12 programming through the Adaptive Sports & Inclusive Recreation Initiative. ASF is also intimately involved with NCAA Para Sport Inclusion through its Adaptive Student Athlete Program.

Erik's passion for para sport and inclusive sports opportunities extends beyond his professional capacity, as he also competes in wheelchair basketball. He is a 2019 Canada Games silver medalist with Team Ontario and volunteers on the board of directors for the para-equestrian nonprofit organization, Therapeutic Riding Inc. in Ann Arbor.

Transcript - April 11, 2024, Provider Webinar

The final MDisability provider webinar in the 2023 series held on December 14 covered the often overlooked or rarely discussed topic, "Palliative Care and Hospice Considerations for Patients with Disabilities" presented by, Jane Chargot, M.D., Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan. Dr. Chargot's topic covered how to approach advance care planning, goals of care discussions, and end-of-life care in patients with physical and intellectual disabilities.

Dr Jane Chargot completed both her Family Medicine residency and Hospice and Palliative Medicine fellowship at the University of Michigan and is now an Assistant Professor at the Michigan Medicine Medical School. She is faculty on the inpatient Palliative Care service, provides primary care through Michigan Medicine Family Medicine, and is the physician lead for the Briarwood general Palliative Care clinic. She additionally teaches residents, fellows, and medical students on the palliative care consult service, in the palliative and primary care clinics, and is a longitudinal medical student teaching faculty through the Michigan Medicine Doctoring program. Her professional focuses are providing primary care to complex, chronically ill patients, providing palliative care to patients both in the inpatient and outpatient settings across the spectrum of the Michigan Medicine patient community, and providing education and increasing exposure of the next generation of physicians to both primary and palliative care.

We thank our partner Michigan Medicine's Center for Disability Health and Wellness (CDHW) (link is external) for the generous support of the MDisability provider webinar series through CDHW's collaboration with AHEAD-DC RRTC (link is external) and a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR #90RTHF0005).

Transcript - December 14, 2023, Provider Webinar(link is external)

Bibliography & Resources

Our most recent provider webinar in the 2023 series took place on September 14, 2023, entitled "Caring for Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD): The Health Maintenance Exam" presented by Brianna Marzolf, DO, a graduate of the Department of Family Medicine’s Residency Program and first MDisability Disability Health Fellow. Dr. Marzolf's talk is tailored to primary care physicians and includes communication tips, current IDD-specific screening recommendations, a focused review of systems and physical exams, as well as some syndrome-specific screening recommendations.

Dr. Marzolf is a recent graduate of the Department of Family Medicine residency program at the University of Michigan. She is passionate and committed to improving healthcare for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). As the first disability health fellow at the University of Michigan, she feels honored and enthusiastic about her new role. She hopes to spend her Fellowship year honing her clinical skills regarding the management of behavioral challenges related to pain, depression, social isolation, life transition, as well as caregiver fatigue, and mental health. She will have the opportunity to work with specialists in Psychiatry, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Neurology, Genetics, and more with the goal of providing comprehensive primary care to patients with IDD and sharing what she learns with other healthcare providers.

For the September webinar in the MDisability provider webinar series, we want to thank our partner U-M Medicine Center for Disability Health and Wellness (CDHW) and the generous support provided by CDHW's collaboration with AHEAD-DC RRTC and by a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR #90RTHF0005).

Transcript - September 14, 2023, Provider Webinar

Resources and Works Cited

For our first provider webinar in the 2023 series, “Home Visits for People with Disabilities: A Family Doc’s Approach” with Cheryl E. LaMore, M.D., Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan. Dr. LaMore shared her experience providing home visits and explained how this care has added to her love of practicing family medicine.  

Dr. LaMore has spent her career caring for patients in multiple levels of care including serving as an attending physician on the inpatient service at Chelsea Family Medicine, providing care for patients at the local nursing home, and performing home visits for her patients who meet criteria. Dr. LaMore has also included medical students and family medicine physicians to join her on her home visit rounds. 

Transcript - April 13, 2023, Provider Webinar (PDF)

The last series webinar of 2022 was held on Thursday, Dec. 8 with Justine Wu, M.D., M.P.H., Assistant Professor of Family Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Michigan. Dr. Justine Wu discussed the overarching principles of reproductive health care for people with disabilities as informed by social justice frameworks. She will then focus on the intersection of contraceptive care and management of menstrual symptoms and how to tailor this care for patients along a spectrum of decision-making models (shared decision-making, supported decision-making, proxy decision-making).

Dr. Wu is an Assistant Professor of Family Medicine with a joint appointment in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Michigan, where she completed her residency many years ago. She completed a Master of Public Health and Family Planning Fellowship at the University of Rochester. She provides primary care to patients in Livonia, Michigan. Her research focuses on improving contraceptive care for individuals with complex health needs, including those with disabilities, and chronic conditions. She has led a series of epidemiologic analyses documenting U.S. trends in contraceptive use among women with disabilities. Dr. Wu lives in Ann Arbor with her family and enjoys doing nerdy NY Times word games when she is not watching her kids’ soccer games or walking the dog.

Transcript - December 8, 2022, Provider Webinar (PDF)

Rett Syndrome Resources: 

Philip Zazove, M.D., the George A. Dean, M.D. Chair of Family Medicine, and Michael M. McKee, M.D., M.P.H., associate professor, held MDisability’s first Provider Webinar on Thursday, March 3 titled, "Caring for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Patients: An Overview for Primary Care Providers."

The event attracted participants from health organizations across North America, including registrants from within Michigan Medicine as well as Wayne State University, Harvard University, and the Provincial Health Services Authority in Canada.