Med school w/ intellectually/physically disabled dependent

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Sthpawslugger

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I'd like to know if any non-trads here have a son, daughter, or another family member with a disability whom they will care for while in medical school, whether it be ID, DD, autism, Down's, or any others that may fall into the above. I believe our circumstances are and will be unique, and therefore we could perhaps learn from one another how we've managed to care for the individual and plan to while attending medical school. I, myself, will not be caring for my brother directly, but from a distance of a few hours while he continues to live in a group home.

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I'll just point out the often unknown fact that childcare expenses are an allowable increase to cost of living loan amounts so it can be affordable from a cash flow point although you will pay it back eventually. Schedule wise, just know there will be points that you are basically not a family member and you won't be of any use to help your partner out. Know that is coming and have those talks now....
 
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One of the things you have to consider is that as a medical student, you need to be somewhat selfish. You can't always run home when your brother has a problem. I have seen too many students get clobbered by life issues.


I'd like to know if any non-trads here have a son, daughter, or another family member with a disability whom they will care for while in medical school, whether it be ID, DD, autism, Down's, or any others that may fall into the above. I believe our circumstances are and will be unique, and therefore we could perhaps learn from one another how we've managed to care for the individual and plan to while attending medical school. I, myself, will not be caring for my brother directly, but from a distance of a few hours while he continues to live in a group home.
 
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I'll be providing care for a son that will be an adult at that time, but the plan is for him to be in a home for adults with asperger's, so I will basically just be providing financial support and I've already got the money put away for it.
 
Yes (see the cutie in my photo). He is the source of my passion for what I do currently and also what I hope to do in the future. As such, I wrote about the guardianship process and what this responsibility means to me in the "anything else" section of several of my secondaries. I do worry that as Goro points out that it could be viewed by some medical schools as a liability, but I hope that in that case they can look at my track record of success. I would argue that I have achieved what I have not in spite of a challenging home environment but because of it. After speaking with a mentor who has serves on an adcom, I agreed not to make family the focus of my PS (he told me if he could he would never read another essay about caring for a family member), but to not mention it at all felt dishonest.
 
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