As some of you know, my 16 year old daughter has Cerebral Palsy. Her disabilities are all physical – she is an A-B student and taking several advanced placement courses. She has started giving some thought to career choices and is leaning towards a medical profession. The problem is, what? If she were able-bodied she would consider becoming a doctor or nurse or physical therapist. But her disablities preclude these choices. She can’t stand independantly at all, but can walk with one or two forearm crutches. Her fine motor skills are much better than her gross motor, but she does have some range-of-motion issues that would keep her from doing anything very intricate. Her verbal and communication skills are excellent. She would prefer to work with patients rather than research or hospital administration. My first thought was psychology, but that leaves her somewhat cold. Does anybody have any recommendations for hands-on medical careers that don’t require super fine motor skills?
I don’t know much about the field, but how about some sort of social work in hospitals? Like a patient advocate, who talks to the patients about procedures, etc and kind of eases the way for them with the doctor? Is her speech clear?
I don’t see any reason why your daughter wouldn’t be able to be a doctor. She might have a tough time being a surgeon, but that can be said for a lot of normal people. I’m paralyzed, and I have encountered a doctor (MD) that is also in a wheelchair. He has complete use of his arms (from what I can tell), but is otherwise paralyzed. He seems to do just fine.
I seem to recall recently seeing an article in a magazine or newspaper about a blind doctor finishing up his residency. I know it’s a different situation, but my point is that a disability doesn’t necessarily prevent someone from becoming a doctor. I didn’t read the entire article, but I think it was in The New York Times if you’re interested in searching. I can’t remember when I saw it, but I think it was an article focusing on those with disabilities in the medical profession.
If you run a search using certain terms you should be able to find some info about doctors that are disabled. I know that there are a lot of things that are more difficult for your daughter than most people would ever think about, but if she wants to be a doctor I don’t think being disabled will prevent her from doing so.
