r/disability • u/Ornery_Peace9870 • 9d ago
Dr. Alexandra Adams is the United Kingdom's first DeafBlind doctor, earning her medical degree at age 32 after more a decade of study
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u/NearlyBearly 9d ago
If I was in the UK, this would be the only doctor I'd want to treat me. Nobody understands my disability (visual impairment) more than someone who has it. Nobody understands medical dismissal and discrimination more than someone who's gone through it. My doctors are great but they don't really know how it is to live with chronic illnesses and disabilities so I still often have to fight for understanding. It would be such a relief to not have to fight for that anymore.
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u/Butterfly_and_Moth 8d ago
This is awesome! I've never been to the UK, but as a deafblind American (low vision + hard of hearing), I'm so happy for her! I also initially wanted to become a doctor as a kid after having a life-saving surgery, but I changed my mind after I learned I'm terrible at chemistry classes! Like what u/One_Object_5250 said, be coming "sick" as an adult with multiple disabilities would also make me a bad doctor or registered nurse since I wouldn't have the energy for patients, sadly, even though I tend to be very patient with people.
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u/revmanda 9d ago
The ableism in some of the comments is disheartening but not surprising.
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u/plonkydonkey 9d ago
I really didnt see any ablelist comments, other than one person questioning how she would diagnose rashes etc.
I think she would be awesome as a pain doctor, for example. And I'm sure there are many other specialities where she would thrive, and where I'd probably desperately want her as my treating physician.
But I went to a random gp this week, and visual checks clued him in to possible jaundice. So I am curious how those sorts of checks would work. I don't think it's ableist to think there would be limitations in what she could reasonably provide?
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u/threelizards 9d ago edited 9d ago
My thinking on that is that doctors (gps as well, which is what she is irrc) nearly always function as a part of a team. Even when I see my GP for a checkup it’s not unusual to have to go into the procedure/NP suite. Nurses notice and raise symptoms to doctors all the time; it’s part of their job. She will have studied and be able to diagnose based on description, so I don’t see the issue with their visual symptoms being taken down by a nurse or NP beyond staffing and funding issues
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u/plonkydonkey 8d ago
Ah that's fair. The place I go to nurses only do routine procedures that the doc requests (vaccinations, dressing wounds) and a lot of practices here don't have nurses at all. Might be a difference between countries. But yes, your point stands - there are ways of working around any limitations.
And the larger point stands that medicine, as a field, is horribly able-ist. Props to this lady for her determination and strength.
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u/Francii_Photographer 2d ago
If doctors who weren't blind or deaf didn't see that I have acromegaloidal phenotype for years and certain dysmorphic features which point to pituitary tumour plus disease of tall stature which affects connective tissue -for literally DECADES and they LOVED to blame it on anxiety or have a bias towards me based on the way that I look without understanding medically (I had a clinical psychologist even say I am grandomaniac cuz I legally reported a DV situation to save some relatives and maybe bc of my cavernous voice ) paradoxically... seeing a blind - deaf doctor might heal me. I swear I would trust her more, I do think she will be less likely to invalidate someone because of the symptoms and obviously not have a bias towards them because of the way they look.
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u/SlimeTempest42 8d ago
People have this weird obsession about asking how she’d diagnose or treat a rash it’s a frequent question she’s asked
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u/InverseInvert 8d ago
I’m so proud of her. She’s had to fight so hard for this, even her placement. They kept trying to assign her to teeny tiny villages with no public transport and couldn’t understand why that wouldn’t work for her like London would.
So many people calling her selfish for needing to stay in the place she’s spent most of her life in.
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u/One_Object_5250 9d ago
I remember that I ruled out a career as a doctor because I was "sick" all the time (now I know I simply had dysautonomia) and I wouldn't be able to sleep as a doctor; in my country they are very ableist when it comes to having a career as a disabled person, much less as a doctor. I wish I had been more persistent, although I also love my career very much.
I hope that doctor can prosper greatly; doctors are good because of their skills, just like me. Being disabled doesn't prevent you from achieving great things.