December 2025
The Center for Leadership in Disability in the School of Public Health at Georgia State University, in partnership with the Southeast ADA Center, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University have developed a comprehensive, evidence-based training course introducing nursing students to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and its applications in health care settings.
The goal of the training is to provide nursing students with relevant and accurate information about the ADA and related strategies they will need to provide accessible competent care to patients with disabilities. The training is geared toward pre-licensure nursing students to embed disability competency early in their training, rather than having nurses “unlearn” and “relearn” practices later in their careers. Content on disability competent care is rare in health professional training programs, so these modules give nursing students the opportunity to gain this knowledge—and translate the knowledge into practice—before entering a professional clinical setting.
The three-module training course is competency-based, rooted in the clinical competencies as outlined by the Alliance for Disability in Health Care Education.
- Module 1 introduces the ADA, its titles, and its intent to protect the rights of individuals with disabilities.
- Module 2 covers accessibility and accommodations relying on case studies to demonstrate disability competent care strategies in healthcare settings.
- Module 3 discusses effective communication and best practices for communicating with patients with disabilities in a way that complies with, and extends beyond, ADA law.
The Nursing Guide to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) online course is available on the Southeast ADA Center – My ADA Learning Courses at website: Courses.MyADALearning.org
Shortcut to the Nursing Guide to the ADA at: bit.ly/nursing-ada-course
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