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Author: Maurice Z. Middleton, PT, DPT

Maurice Z. Middleton, PT, DPT graduated from Emory University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. After his undergraduate degree he was commissioned as a Lieutenant into the United States Army. He served eight years in the US Army, deploying once to Iraq and once to Afghanistan. He has earned two Bronze Stars, one with Valor, for his service. After his military service he graduated from Emory University’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program in 2013. Dr. Middleton has been practicing Physical Therapy at the Atlanta VA Healthcare System since 2014. The ongoing displays of social injustice, combined with raising two young African-American boys and his passion to help others, have inspired him to take a more active role in advocating for change. Dr. Middleton believes that the humanities are one way to close the racial inequality gap in the physical therapy profession.

How Structural Oppression Has Shaped the Physical Therapy Profession and Access to Rehabilitative Services

Physical therapy has been practiced in the US for more than 100 years. But have rehabilitative services been the same for all Americans? These authors show how Black, Brown, and Indigenous People have not fully reaped the rewards of this, or any, aspect of the US healthcare system. They state that the nation’s “structural racism” continues to shape “exclusion of racialized persons from all levels of physical therapy.” They offer this article as a “first step in better understanding this history”—and in finding real solutions.