Health system: inclusion and participation for people with disabilities

16.10.2018 11:06

For the winter semester 2018/2019, Prof. Dr. Christian Walter-Klose started his work in the Department of Community Health (DoCH). Here he teaches and researches issues relating to the health of people with disabilities, with a particular focus on life in the community, educational opportunities and the area of work. In the spirit of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, he deals in particular with questions of inclusion in the health system, the optimization and adaptation of health-related offers that do justice to the skills, needs and living situations of people with disabilities and their relatives.

As with his previous theoretical and practical work, the focus of his work is on promoting social participation in society.

“I am very happy with Prof. Dr. Christian Walter-Klose is pleased to welcome a proven expert in the field of disability and inclusion to the Department of Community Health. “Its focus on health care and social participation in this area is one of the department’s central topics in teaching and research,” explained Prof. Dr. Heike Köckler, Dean of the DoCH.

Christian Walter-Klose was born in Münsterland. After graduating from high school and completing community service in a facility for people with disabilities, Walter-Klose, a two-time father, studied psychology in Würzburg and worked for ten years in various disability assistance facilities as a consulting psychologist, therapeutic director and deputy facility manager. He was responsible for and coordinated the curative education and therapeutic offerings for adults with mental disabilities and mental disorders in a facility in the Bavarian Forest as well as the medical-therapeutic and curative educational offerings at the Blind Institute Foundation in Würzburg. This is a facility for children, young people and adults with visual impairments and multiple disabilities.

With these experiences, he moved to the University of Würzburg in 2010 and completed his doctorate in the field of education for the physically disabled and school inclusion - work that was honored with the German Study Prize in 2013 due to its importance for society. In addition to his teaching in Würzburg, he researched the conditions under which inclusive offers in school and extracurricular areas are successful.

Innovative teaching and research area

“The teaching and research area is extremely innovative and is becoming increasingly important for the future. The orientation of the study programs and the diversity of the different skills of the colleagues in the department represent an essential resource on the basis of which we can visibly contribute to improving the situation for people with disabilities or chronic illnesses," explains Walter-Klose his motivation for the application to the HSG.

According to Walter-Klose, the latest federal participation report makes it clear that access to and care for people with disabilities in the health system is one of the most important issues for society: almost 16 percent of people in Germany live with an impairment and experience disabilities Barriers in many ways. Due to demographic developments, this number will increase in the next few years, so that questions of health prevention and the removal of barriers for people with disabilities, especially in the areas of living, leisure and work, will become essential future issues that already require interdisciplinary and networked action today made.