Ziah McKinney

Professional Designation: Full Spectrum Doula, Disability Support Doula, Childbirth Education, Disability Lactation Support

About these Clinics/Practices

I have supported Disabled people through fertility, pregnancy, birth, lactation, postpartum, and home set up since 2018. A Full Spectrum Doula supports people along the full range of reproductive support, including fertility, loss and postpartum. Birthing Advocacy Doula Training/BADT centers informational and educational advocacy training for marginalized population including Disabled, LGBTQIA+, and BIPOC.

I am also an Evidence Based Birth® Childbirth Education Instructor that teaches a Disabled Parents Specialty Class, both virtually and in person in the Atlanta Metro area.

I have created EDS informational handouts for Pregnancy, Labor and Birth, Postpartum, and Nursing/Lactation that help both the person with EDS and their care teams understand how EDS can affect each stage and how to support them. The goal of the handouts are to provide evidence based information behind the label of “high risk” that so many birthing EDS people receive. By providing information and resources, the birthing person and their care team can understand what risks may be involved for that individual (it is very different from person to person since we know EDS affects each person differently), and how informed support can mitigate risks and make pregnancy, birth and parenthood a safer and more enjoyable experience. I am happy to meet with the birthing team, either in person or virtually, to provide insight into how to mitigate risks.

In order to prepare myself to support birth clients and create the handouts I have been taking each type of the Ehlers Danlos Society ECHOs, studying research papers as they come out, and listening to researchers and providers lectures on their topics. I worked with Fertility Counselor Erica Evans to create a EDS Hypermobility Reproductive Health, Fertility, Pregnancy, and Birth Survey in order to inform our practice by listening to the actual reproductive experiences of people with EDS/HSD. The survey collected 337 responses with both prepared questions and space for story telling in their own words. This survey has been instrumental in informing us of what kind of support EDS people want in their own words vs only relying on research papers that had research and funding restrictions or clinicians telling us about possible risks.