Earlier this year, NACCHO launched an updated and expanded Health and Disability Toolkit as a part of its free, online Toolbox. The Toolkit currently has 181 resources, all of which can be accessed by visiting the new NACCHO Toolbox portal, and selecting “Health and Disability Toolkit” in the toolkit drop down menu.
The Toolkit includes resources developed by NACCHO’s Health and Disability team and the National Health and Disability Workgroup; NACCHO Model Practices; and model plans created by local health departments.
Newly added tools reflect emerging issues and the most common concerns local health departments have when working to increase disability inclusion:
- Communicating effectively with people who have disabilities;
- Reaching out to people with disabilities in the community;
- Improving physical accessibility of health department facilities;
- Finding existing data or collecting new data about people with disabilities in local health department jurisdictions;
- Training staff, including accessing online trainings for nurses, emergency planners, emergency responders, leaders of health promotion programs, healthcare providers, and professionals interested in obtaining a graduate certificate in disability and public health;
- Preventing violence and abuse;
- Understanding and using assistive technology (e.g., screen readers, teletypewriters [TTYs], communication access realtime transcription services [CART]);
- Employing people with disabilities and creating an inclusive organizational culture; and
- Promoting reproductive and maternal health.