{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Episode 128: The Disclosure Series, Part 2: Medical Culture, Stigma, and What Prevents Disclosure","description":"Series Description Disclosure is a three-part podcast series from the Docs with Disabilities Podcast that examines one of the most personal and consequential decisions disabled healthcare providers make: whether, when, and how to disclose a disability. Through the voices of medical students, residents, practicing physicians, psychologists, nurses, researchers, legal scholars, and disability advocates, the series explores disclosure as an ongoing process shaped by identity, institutional culture, ableism, and power. Blending lived experience with research and policy, the series challenges assumptions about disability in healthcare while illuminating pathways toward more inclusive learning, training, and practice environments. Part 2: Medical Culture, Stigma, and What Prevents Disclosure Why does disability disclosure feel so difficult\u2014and for many, unsafe\u2014in healthcare? In the second episode of the Disclosure series, we move beyond individual disclosure decisions to examine the culture of medicine itself. Through the perspectives of physicians, researchers, allied health professionals, disability scholars, and trainees, this episode explores how the hidden curriculum, stigma, institutional practices, and everyday interactions shape whether disabled healthcare professionals feel they belong. Contributors reflect on the burdens of seeking accommodations, the impact of ableist assumptions, the complexities of partial disclosure, and the ways colleagues, mentors, and institutional norms influence identity safety. Together, these stories reveal that disclosure is never simply an individual choice\u2014it is a reflection of the culture in which it occurs and a catalyst for reimagining a more inclusive future for healthcare. Transcript: https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/103BYwMaTCBRYJB7IZU3UHfp6zMPIvBVF\/edit?usp=share_link&ouid=104315301750264632478&rtpof=true&sd=true Keywords Disability disclosure Medical culture Hidden curriculum Ableism in medicine Disability stigma Psychological safety Identity safety Disability accommodations Physicians with disabilities Medical students with disabilities Healthcare workplace culture Health professions education Healthcare inclusion Disability justice Healthcare professionals Production Team Developer, Writer, Executive Producer: Sofia Schlozman Co-Producers: Rylee Betchkal and Lisa Meeks Co-Producer, Sound Selection and Editing: Gabe Abrams Sound Production: Next Day Podcast Digital Media: Katie Sullivan Citations Anderson, H. L. K., Konopasky, A. W., Bullock, J. L., Meeks, L. M., & Jain, N. R. (2025). The Call is Coming from Inside the House: Racism and Ableism in US Medical Education. Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 0(0), 1\u201319. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/10401334.2025.2581621 Evans, H. D. (2017). Un\/covering: Making Disability Identity Legible. Disability Studies Quarterly, 37(1). https:\/\/doi.org\/10.18061\/dsq.v37i1.5556 Jain, N. R. (2020). Political disclosure: Resisting ableism in medical education. Disability & Society, 35(3), 389\u2013412. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/09687599.2019.1647149 Graduation Questionnaire (GQ). (n.d.). AAMC. Retrieved July 6, 2026, from https:\/\/www.aamc.org\/data-reports\/students-residents\/report\/graduation-questionnaire-gq Stergiopoulos E, Fernando O, Martimianakis MA. "Being on Both Sides": Canadian Medical Students' Experiences With Disability, the Hidden Curriculum, and Professional Identity Construction Academic Medicine. 2018;93(10):1550-1559. doi:10.1097\/ACM.0000000000002300. Pereira-Lima K, Meeks LM, Ross KET, et al. Barriers to Disclosure of Disability and Request for Accommodations Among First-Year Resident Physicians in the US. JAMA Netw Open.2023;6(5):e239981. doi:10.1001\/jamanetworkopen.2023.9981   ","author_name":"DocsWithDisabilities","author_url":"https:\/\/www.docswithdisabilities.org\/podcast","html":"