Sahra Dahir
Sahra Dahir
Nisonger Center
The Ohio State University, OH
Sahra Dahir is a licensed Community Health Worker in the State of Ohio. She completed the Community Health Worker certification program at the Ohio State University College of Nursing. For the past year, Sahra served as a community connector as part of the CelebrateOne Connector Corps program, an initiative of the City of Columbus intended to reduce infant mortality rates in Columbus neighborhoods. Through her work, she linked pregnant women, mothers of infants and their families to resources such as health insurance, prenatal care, nutrition, car seats, cribs, affordable prescriptions, transportation and other community supports, and as a result, established an extensive network of contacts within the Columbus community in central Ohio and beyond.
She represents a new American community that has little understanding of developmental disabilities. Research in Minnesota showed that the prevalence of autism is higher among Somali kids than other populations. In addition to language and cultural barriers, the Somali community in Ohio faces shortage of professionals to support families in seeking early diagnosis and treatment for children with developmental disabilities. To make the situation worse, anti-vaccine groups targeted this community with propaganda stating that immunizations are the root cause of autism and other development disabilities. During her fellowship at the Nisonger Center at the Ohio State University, she will study autism and other neuro-developmental conditions more in-depth. Sahra will also work to develop resources to reduce stigma associated with developmental disabilities in the community.