I was watching my Facebook feed and saw
something from NPR that caught my attention. It was an article that
was written by a doctor who'd seen something that she didn't
understand initially and then became very troubled about when she
realized what she was seeing: discrimination in an ER against a
disabled man. Here
is the article.
This made me think. I called a friend
of mine with severe back problems. She's not in a wheelchair yet, but
she requires a great deal of help getting up and down and is always
in a great deal of pain. She told me she's been left alone for a few
hours before in an ER before someone came in to see what was wrong
with her. I've been stuck in an ER before as well like this. Both of
us have our diagnoses written on our charts. For the both of us, as
we talked, we realized that there was a very good chance we were
being discriminated against because of her physical and my mental
disabilities.
Yes, I know there is always a wait in
an ER. But when not even a nurse comes in to tend to you over the
course of two to three hours is a good indicator that either you've
been forgotten about or they don't want to deal with you. Himself has
had to go out a couple of times to get someone to come in and see me.
My friend's dad has had to do the same for her.
I think all medical practitioners need
to be taught how to deal with those of us with physical or mental
disabilities. We shouldn't be forgotten, pushed off to the side, or
ignored because nurses and doctors don't want to deal with something
different. The article mentioned that less than 20% of medical
schools teach their students how to talk to someone disabled about
their needs. This should be 100%, not 20%.
