Danielle Gibbs Koenitzer contends that ableism in nursing education functions as a form of gatekeeping, which silences disabled voices, narrows the definition of who can be a nurse, and reinforces outdated ideals of competence and care.

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Imagine a world where everyone has four arms, and you have only two. Suddenly, you’re not just different; you’re “a person with a disability.” How would that feel? This thought experiment, offered by Dr. Maggie Little, flips the script on how we define disability. What we call “normal” is shaped by collective expectations; not objective truth. The thought experiment provokes us to ask: are our systems built for everyone, or just those who fit a narrow ideal?

Ableism in nursing education isn’t just a matter of oversight, it’s a systemic issue that undermines the very ethics the profession upholds. Whether those disabilities are visible, like a person using a wheelchair, or non-visible, like a person with anxiety, the outcome is often the same: exclusion, judgment, and institutional barriers that undermine the presence and success of people with disabilities in nursing.

Helen Cherry, a deaf nurse who practiced until 2016, reflects that her deafness was never the barrier; other people’s attitudes were. “Being deaf has never stopped me from doing anything; it’s other people who make it an issue.” While she has always been transparent about her disability, she acknowledges that many nurses choose to hide their disability out of fear of discrimination.

Photo Credit: flickr. Image Description: An illustration depicting people with disabilities alongside other community members.

Ableism in nursing education upholds a narrow, outdated vision of who is deemed “fit” to be a nurse, often equating competence with being able-bodied and neurotypical. This mindset penalizes differences rather than valuing them. As Dr. Anna Valdez notes, “People assume that being a person with a disability means I cannot or should not work, and of course, I cannot work in nursing because I would be a burden.” The underlying message is clear: disabled people are seen as less valuable.

The process of requesting accommodations is itself a form of institutional ableism. Students with disabilities often face complex systems, repeated disclosures, and faculty skepticism; signaling they don’t belong. Many withdraw, not due to lack of ability, but because the system wasn’t built with them in mind.

This culture of exclusion is not hypothetical; it’s lived. Consider Andrea Dalzell, known online as “@TheSeatedNurse”, a registered nurse who has used a wheelchair since youth. After being accepted into nursing school, she was not met with support, but skepticism. Faculty didn’t ask how they could accommodate her; instead, they told her all the things she wouldn’t be able to do. Rather than recognizing her capabilities, they saw her wheelchair as a barrier. She persevered and became a nurse despite the institution’s lack of support.

Can we truly claim to care for people with disabilities while simultaneously denying them a place within our profession? Dr. Paula Crawford-Dickinson reveals that many Canadian nurses with disabilities hide their conditions due to fear of discrimination, which often starts in nursing school. She also highlights the lack of data on disabled nurses in practice.

In Canada, several organizations including the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing, the Canadian Nurses Association, and the Ontario Human Rights Commission have developed policies and plans emphasizing the importance of accessibility and inclusion for students with disabilities in nursing education. Across the country, actual implementation remains limited; as nursing schools have been slow to translate policy into practice.

To begin dismantling ableism in nursing education, we must:

1. Adopt Universal Design: Programs should be designed with accessibility in mind from the start; incorporating flexible teaching methods, alternative assessments, and inclusive clinical planning.
2. Restructure Accommodations: Make supports easier to access without excessive disclosure or bureaucracy.
3. Train Faculty on Disability Justice: Faculty must understand unconscious bias, the social model of disability, and how to support students with respect, not pity or suspicion.
4. Include Disabled Voices: Students should learn from nurses and educators who have a disability. Representation in curriculum and leadership contests assumptions and reshapes culture.
5. Normalize Flexibility: Adaptability should be seen as good education, not as lowering standards. Supporting diverse learners benefits all students; not just those with documented disabilities.

If we want a nursing profession that reflects the diversity of the populations we serve, we must build educational environments where students with disabilities are welcomed, not weeded out. Let’s not force people to prove they belong. Instead, let’s build systems that affirm their value, remove obstacles, and redefine what it truly means to be a nurse.

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Danielle Gibbs Koenitzer is a Clinical Nurse Educator at London Health Sciences Centre and Part Time Professor at Fanshawe College, committed to advancing equity in healthcare.

The views presented are the author’s personal perspectives and do not reflect the positions of any affiliated institutions.