Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Policy

Diversity is essential to the mission of the UW–Madison DPT program. We place specific emphasis on educating culturally-aware professionals who are prepared to deliver comprehensive health care for populations and regions in need. Our program recognizes that the very institutions established to educate, protect, and serve the people of this country have often adopted inequitable practices centered on whiteness, sexism, and ableism. As a community of faculty, staff, and students, we are committed to dismantling these inequities and establishing a learning environment in which every individual is an integral and valued member, regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, language, socioeconomic status, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, religion, or ability. We endorse the APTA commitment to anti-racism and the handbook for physical therapy LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, and asexual or allied) competency.

We also recognize that diversity, equity, and inclusion are not goals to be reached, but represent ideals for which we strive through continual improvement efforts. In that spirit, the UW–Madison DPT program is committed to the following:

1. We will foster a culture of accountability in which students, faculty, staff, and guests of the DPT program will be informed and empowered to engage in conversations and actions to create an environment for positive change and inclusivity.
2. We will challenge students, staff, and faculty to decenter whiteness, sexism, ableism, and other systems that promote the hierarchical valuation of human life.
3. We will ensure that our curriculum upholds and prioritizes antiracist values by challenging this DPT program to confront the historical context through which implicit and explicit beliefs, attitudes, and actions continue to perpetuate racial and social injustices in our institutions, healthcare systems, and society.
4. We will create safe and empowering spaces for students including, but not limited to, BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of color), hispanic or latino origin, LGBTQIA students, first generation, international, and students with disabilities.
5. We will proactively create supportive and equitable learning environments that normalize and streamline accommodation processes for students living with conditions that may affect their physical and/or mental health, and prepare them to be self-advocates in the clinical environment.
6. We will leverage opportunities to increase the financial accessibility of a DPT education, recognizing that capitalistic interests limit the representation of certain identity groups within healthcare.
7. We will foster an environment that develops humble, empathetic, and culturally sensitive physical therapists who can be future leaders in their communities that promote health equity and recognize the impact of structural inequities on health across the lifespan.