Disability Studies and Disability Evaluation

Dear Colleagues,

(1) Disabilities studies focus on the experiences of people with disability and emphasizes the role of the disability community/culture in defining challenges and evaluating solutions (University of Washington, 2025). As an interdisciplinary field, disability studies examine the social, political, cultural, and economic factors related to disability. Disability studies emphasize the lived experiences and knowledges of disabled individuals, and with asking questions by placing disability at the center rather than the margin. Substantial emphasis is placed on challenging the medical model that characterizes biological aspects of disability and use of a deficit model. Disability studies challenge societal norms that contribute to marginalization of people with disability and shifts perspectives to a social and rights-based approach (Ferguson & Nusbaum, 2012). Implicit in disability studies is the recognition and challenge of the idea of the normal-abnormal binary of human variation (Association of American Medical Colleges, 2025). Views on being differently abled convey more empowering overtones than the term disability (Leshota & Sefotho, 2020), as well as recognition of variation of people with chronic illness and disability exist along a spectrum of health and function (Martinez, 2022).

As a philosophy and anthem, disability studies research is important because of the prevalence and incidence of people with disabilities, the survival rate of people with chronic illness and disability, and the number of people aging into disability. Moreover, insights from disability studies about the recognition that disability is a socio-political category have begun to affect the way social policy views its approach to people with disability (Holler & Ohayon, 2024). Understanding factors that influence health outcomes of people with disability is critical to improving these outcomes.      

(2) The Special Issues aims to evaluate how disability studies may impact service delivery and health and social outcomes of people with disability through examination of disability awareness and perceptions of health care providers and the influence of social factors on the quality of life of people with disability. Emphasis is placed on implications of individual, psychosocial, and organizational elements for improving health and mental health outcomes of people with chronic illness and disability. We invite you to submit empirical work that involves data-driven approaches, theoretical reviews, and case reports, and systematic reviews. We also embrace disability research practices that depart from the traditional norms of objective empirical methods void of culture and social implications. This approach could invite action-based or community-based research. We also would consider content analyses and systematic reviews if they offer notable contributions of disability health and outcomes. Finally, given the aims and scope of Healthcare, each submission should center medicine and healthcare, along with being international in scope.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but not limited to) the following:

• An analysis of the effectiveness of disability policy
• Disability inclusion
• Disability awareness of health care workers
• Persistence of ableism in medical education
• Impact of disability studies in changing societal attitudes and perceptions about people with disability
• Exploring the meaning of disability in society
• Advancing equity and justice of disability health
• Intersectionality and disability
• The empowerment of the language of disability
• Mental health status of people with disability

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Debra Harley
Dr. Siyi Chao
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• disability studies
• disability evaluation
• disability education
• healthcare
• health outcomes
• health professionals
• mental health
• chronic illness