Interview with MDPH's Rachel Tanenhaus: Making Accessibility a Priority at the 2013 Ounce of Prevention Conference (Part 1)

Rachel Tanenhaus

Thanks to the hard work of the Ounce of Prevention Accessibility Committee, this year’s conference is shaping up to be the most accessible one ever organized.  

We recently caught up with Rachel Tanenhaus, an active member of the Accessibility Committee and Program Coordinator at MDPH’s Health and Disability Program, which is part of the Office of Health Equity.

Tell us about some of the ways this year’s Ounce of Prevention Conference will be more accessible than past conferences.

I think the whole approach is different. We've got the Ounce of Prevention Accessibility Committee working on every aspect of the conference from the word go, so that's a huge change. We're also going to be providing accessible transportation from a nearby public transit station, since Marlborough is a little hard to get to for folks who don't drive. The conference will integrate accessibility features ranging from a quiet room for folks on the autism spectrum or with sensory processing issues, to reserved seating at the keynote and in breakout rooms for people who need to sit up front, to accessible formats for all printed conference materials. As the event gets closer, we'll educate venue staff and conference volunteers on disability etiquette, and we'll be asking presenters to observe certain guidelines in order to enable everyone to enjoy their presentations.

What is the Accessibility Committee?

We're a group of Ounce of Prevention Conference Planning Committee members with a particular interest in and commitment to inclusion of the disability community. We've got representatives from a number of state agencies. Some of us have disabilities ourselves. We work closely with the event organizers and report out at every Planning Committee meeting. Recently we drafted an accessibility guide for the conference organizers, which can hopefully be used at future Ounce of Prevention Conferences as well. We'd love input on what people need and want at the conference, accessibility-wise, so folks should feel free to contact me with questions and suggestions!

Tell us about your work at MDPH.

Mine personally? I'm a Program Coordinator in the Health and Disability Program, which is part of the Office of Health Equity. I help ensure that public health programs and services are accessible to people with and without disabilities. I have a background in the Americans with Disabilities Act, so I answer a lot of questions about that, but I don't have any kind of enforcement role. Most of what I work on relates to policy and systems change. One of my team's big goals is to reduce health disparities between people with and without disabilities, which are pretty staggering.

Click here for Part 2 of this interview!

This interview was conducted by Ounce of Prevention Planning Committee member Stefanie Valovic.