NOND's goals target education and advocacy to:
Youth and Students of All Ages with Disabilities
- Educate and advocate for people of any age who have or develop disabilities, who want to return to school, and who seek vocational counseling, so they can learn about nursing as an attainable career choice.
- Provide NOND website resources for youth and students with disabilities who are interested in nursing, including a checklist for self-advocacy in gaining entrance into nursing programs or remaining in those programs if already enrolled.
- Network with student organizations that work with youth/students with disabilities to inform them that nursing is a career option.
- Advocate for students with disabilities to gain equal access to nursing educational programs.
- Develop an effective plan for advocating for students with disabilities who plan to apply or have already applied to nursing education programs so that they may be provided with support, information, and accommodations.
- Develop a mentoring program for youth and students with disabilities who want to become nurses or who are already enrolled in nursing programs.
- Promote the education of youth and students with disabilities in development and implementation of self-advocacy skills.
- Advocate for the active recruitment of students with disabilities by admissions departments at institutions of higher learning, nursing schools, and other educational programs so that students with disabilities are not denied admission on the basis of their disabilities.
- Advocate for the removal of "Functional Abilities" criteria that nursing programs may use as a condition of admission.
- Advocate for the removal of Technical Standards written by each nursing school that would not be inclusive of nursing students with disabilities.
- Advocate for the education and training of nurse educators, administrators, and staff so that nursing education programs are accessible.
- Advocate that nursing programs hire nurses with disabilities for faculty positions.
- Educate nurse educators and administrators about the opportunities in nursing for people with disabilities and the benefits that people with disabilities can provide to nursing and to the larger society.
- Target graduate schools of nursing to advocate that masters and doctoral students' curricula include educational and legal information about the Rehabilitation Act, Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as information about teaching students with disabilities using creative and individualized instruction.
- Advocate that nursing educators receive in-service education programs that address diversity and inclusion, reasonable accommodations for nursing students with disabilities, and adaptive technology and devices that can be used for teaching and in the work lives of nurses with disabilities.
- Promote the development of curricula in graduate schools of nursing that focus on masters and doctoral degrees in "Disability and Nursing."
Nurses with Disabilities
- Educate and advocate for the full participation of nurses with disabilities in all aspects of nursing practice.
- Advocate that nurses with disabilities have equal access to employment opportunities.
- Target nurse employers in order to educate and advocate for nurses with disabilities to promote job retention through accommodations for the advancement of their careers.
- Provide resources on the NOND website that provide information, self-advocacy steps, and skills for nurses whose jobs may be in jeopardy because they have become disabled.
- NOND website will provide links to other resources that could be of assistance to nurses with disabilities.
- Provide a medium by which nurses with disabilities may communicate with one another.
- Combat attitudinal barriers that may be directed towards nurses with disabilities by developing public education programs that focus on the capabilities of nurses with disabilities to create an accepting and inclusive environment in the employment arena and in society at large.
- Advocate for the development of a "National Center" where nurses with disabilities could go to learn how to use adaptive equipment and technology so that there would be additional options for nursing career choices. Advocate that "Certification Programs" be developed at this "National Center" so that nurses with disabilities would be certified and have reoriented their nursing careers as necessary so that they may return or stay within the nursing field.
- Advocate at a grass roots level across the nation, state by state, to ensure that nurses with disabilities, as well as nurses and lay persons who are knowledgeable about disabilities, are appointed to serve on the 60 state boards of nursing.
- Advocate that nurses with disabilities may self-limit their nursing practice since they present no greater risk to public safety than non-disabled nurses.
- Advocate that members of all state boards of nursing in the country receive ongoing continuing education in regard to ways in which nurses with disabilities utilize adaptive technology, devices, and reasonable accommodations to effectively meet their job requirements and remain in their nursing careers.
- Address state boards of nursing in regard to the granting of licensure, granting of renewal, restricting, or denying licensure to nurses with disabilities, and renewal of licenses for nurses who develop disabilities after their licenses were received, by advocating that "Functional Abilities" criteria, used on the basis of concern for public safety, are unfounded and promote discrimination.
- Advocate for the development of policies and guidelines within professional and practical nursing organizations that would provide for full inclusion and acceptance of nurses with disabilities.
- Work with national professional organizations that represent RNs and national organizations for LPNs and their state chapters if appropriate, through their administration and membership, to advocate and educate regarding the need for a "Reasonable Accommodations and Adaptive Strategies Guide" for schools of nursing and other educational programs that would assist in understanding reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities.
- Advocate that continuing education courses for nurses that are sponsored by nationally accrediting organizations be held in accessible facilities, and that accommodations be provided as needed.
- Ensure through advocacy and education that accommodations are provided for nurses with disabilities before and during examinations by the state boards and testing agencies when nurses with disabilities request such accommodations for NCLEX and certification examinations.