Underserved Farmers With Disabilities: Designing an AgrAbility Program to Address Health Disparities

ABSTRACT

Awareness of health disparities is crucial for individuals with disabilities to minimize additional health-related challenges. Adding rural residence and age to disability creates a triple threat in terms of potential health disparities. Kentucky AgrAbility is developing innovative new partnerships with the goal of expanding service provision to underserved populations with disabilities in Kentucky: women, minority, and Appalachian small farmers. Kentucky AgrAbility is evolving to include a more focused approach to the needs of underresourced and underserved regions and populations of farmers in Kentucky. Through new partnerships and a commitment to addressing potential health disparities, farmers and families who can benefit from AgrAbility services will be broadly identified. It is concluded that health disparities need to be recognized and addressed in all health care service provision and education. Kentucky AgrAbility is attempting to develop and implement an innovative, multidisciplinary team of partners with a goal of providing one of a kind service and education to all Kentucky farmers with disabilities. This includes underserved farmers who are at risk of not receiving the appropriate services due to limited resources and lack of awareness.

Keywords:

• Aging farmers
• AgrAbility
• Appalachia
• disability
• health disparities
• underserved populations

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Assistive Technology Programs for Farmers with Disabilities: State and Regional AgrAbility Projects, USDA.