Guest Speakers: Dr. Sandra Block and Ms. Lisa Noble
Join us on Friday, February 25, 2022, from 1:00-3:00 PM ET for ASCO’s Diversity and Cultural Competency Committee’s Town Hall on Working with People with Disabilities: Providing Quality Care for People Who are Often Marginalized. This session will focus on the challenges people with disabilities experience when accessing comprehensive eye care. The World Report on Vision and the Convention on the Rights for Persons with Disabilities highlight that persons with disabilities are entitled to the same level of care as their physical and neurotypical peers; however, many research articles have documented the gaps in accessing the same equitable levels of care. A recent survey of primary care physicians revealed that general discomfort exists when caring for patients with disabilities, and, though this study didn’t survey optometrists specifically, the sentiment is likely the same. Lisa Noble, an Illinois Special Olympics athlete, will share her experiences about the barriers and facilitators in receiving quality health care. Dr. Sandra Block will highlight several hurdles that need to be addressed within optometric educational programs. Additionally, she will discuss the importance of teaching our future doctors how to serve people with disabilities to ensure equitable, accessible, and affordable services. Most of the patients are capable of cooperating in a full primary care exam without much modification, and the goal of this Town Hall is to encourage the confidence and competence needed to provide equitable care to this population.
Register today. For more information, contact LaShawn Sidbury Duckett, director of meetings and special interest groups, at lsidbury@opted.org.
A special thank you to VSP for their generous support of this program.
About Dr. Sandra Block
For over 30 years, Sandra Block has worked hard to provide better eye care in the U.S. and abroad. She has a professional passion for primary care for children, persons with disabilities and diagnosing and treating vision-related learning problems. Sandra looks at how public health issues affect the equity, access, and quality of eye care delivery.
Sandra’s many titles witness her dedication. She sits on the Prevent Blindness Board of Trustees and has been a consultant to the Special Olympics Lion Club’s international Foundation Opening Eyes program since 1995. In her home country the United States, she is a member of advisory committee of the National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health. In collaboration with the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, she has made a great effort to improve school health.
Currently, she is President-Elect of the World Council of Optometry. She has published academic articles on treatment methods internationally. Sandra obtained her optometry degree from Illinois College of Optometry (where recently retired from in 2020) back in 1981.
She has two master’s degrees – one in public health and one in education.