Satendra Singh
MD, Director-Professor of Physiology, co-founder Health Humanities Group, University College of Medical Sciences, Delhi, India
Joshua M George
Project Coordinator, iHEAR, Bhopal Hub, Sangath, Bhopal, India
Anoushka Fateh
Project Assistant, iHEAR, Bhopal Hub, Sangath, Bhopal, India
Upreet Dhaliwal
MS, former Director-Professor of Ophthalmology, co-founder Health Humanities Group, University College of Medical Sciences, University of Delhi, Delhi, India
Khan Amir Maroof
MD, Director-Professor of Community Medicine, Coordinator Medical Education Unit, University College of Medical Sciences, University of Delhi, Delhi, India
Kirtana R Nayak
MD, Department of Physiology, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India
Salik Ansari
Project Coordinator, iHEAR, Bhopal Hub, Sangath, Bhopal, India
Harikeertan Raghuram
MBBS, PGDFM, MSc (LSE), Associate Director (Health Equity), iHEAR, Bhopal Hub, Sangath, Bhopal, India
Aqsa Shaikh
MD, PGDBEME, Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Delhi, India
Navjeevan Singh
MD, Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Delhi, India
Harshwardhan Shrotri
MD, Theatre and film artist; former consultant Interventional Radiologist, Pune, India
Payal Kwatra Bansal
MBBS, MS (Surgery), MHPE, Chair Professor, Medical Education, Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nashik, India
Anant Bhan
MBBS, MHSc, Principal Investigator, iHEAR, Bhopal Hub, Sangath, Bhopal, India
Kamala Gullapalli Cotts
MD, Division of Biological Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, United States
Madhuri Kanitkar
PVSM, AVSM, VSM, MS, former Vice Chancellor, Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nashik, India
Abstract
This paper presents an Indian university–led approach towards building faculty capacity for teaching disability competencies in health professions education. Developed and delivered by a collaborative team of educators, health professionals, and individuals with lived experience of disability, the faculty development programme employed pedagogical tools drawn from the health humanities. Implemented as a pilot initiative by the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, the programme builds on the team’s earlier work on Disability Inclusive Compassionate Care (DICC), through which disability competencies were conceptualised and later integrated into national curricula by the National Medical Commission of India. The paper describes the design and delivery of the workshops and their process, participant engagement and feedback, capacity building to teach disability competencies strategies for securing institutional support, logistical challenges, and key lessons learnt. It offers a transferable model for universities and educators, demonstrating how health humanities–based methods can strengthen faculty preparedness, embed disability competencies in curricula, and contribute to the development of more reflective, inclusive, and sensitised health professionals.
