diversity essay

….despite my recent cynicism I managed to put it aside so that I finally live the dream and become a poster child for WF.    This is going on the medical school’s diversity materials and recruitment materials.

“This is an example of a potentially poor outcome.” the nurse told me matter-of-factly. I look down and see tiny hands grasping mine and bright eyes exploring my face.  My medical training registers the curl of his fingers, the shape of his eyes and the dimple over his lip that defines his diagnosis. But I don’t see a poor outcome. I see a child. I also see myself.  25 years ago I was the baby in the nursery who was thought to be a poor outcome.  I have a disability that stems from a genetic bone disease that I was born with.  I am a patient and a student doctor. My disability was my first attending and it is my constant board exam. It has taught me compassion, humility and grace throughout my life and even more so in medical school.

Just like my classmates:  I take call, I write notes, I learn how to do procedures, I deliver babies and I rotate through all the required specialties.  I do this by using a manual wheelchair to round, an amplified stethoscope to auscultate and a stool to suture or assist in the OR.  Unlike most of my colleagues I can sit down next to my anxious or weeping patient and relate to what its like: to undergo anesthesia , or receive bad news from their doctor or go through rehab after a trauma or a major surgical procedure or even be denied health insurance.

I have never had a patient who didn’t want me to be a part of their care because of my disability but I have had many thank me for sharing my own struggles and stories. I have occasionally encountered an attending or a colleague who was skeptical. But in the end in nearly every situation by the end of the rotation I found that we have learned from each other’s perspectives and become better physicians.

As a patient, as a disabled individual I am a member of one of the largest, most underserved minority groups.   The disabled community makes up 11% of the US population but less than 1% of medical school graduates. I am grateful to Wake Forest for catching the vision and realizing that physicians with disabilities have something not just to learn but also to teach.   I believe my patients are grateful too.  They know that I provide excellent care. They also know most of all that I do not see the labels of illness or disability or poor outcomes, I see them first and foremost as human beings like myself.