Medical School as a Paraplegic

[mduggar]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I am a paraplegic and full time wheelchair user from an incomplete t-12 spinal cord injury. I want to attend medical school, and I am about a year out from applying, but I am unsure as to how to address my disability in my application. My disability must be mentioned in a genuine 'Why Medicine' PS, but I am worried about encountering discriminatory ad-coms. I think that my disability could potentially serve as an 'x-factor' of sorts, but perhaps I am delusional. Any thoughts?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Disabled Doctors: Healing the Medical Model?

Wheelchair users are making it through medical school and rolling into emergency rooms, operating rooms and private practices with greater frequency.

newmobility.com

Have your reviewed the technical requirements at the schools where you intend to apply? Have you met with their accommodations offices (or your own)?

 

[Hollow Knight]

I’m not trying to discourage you but my med school probably would not admit you from a technical standards standpoint. I don’t agree with that but it is what it is.

I bring that up to say you need to do your research and find out what medical schools will give you a shot. Hopefully most of them but I don’t know.

 

[RockClimberMed]

Its uncommon, but possible. Just recently saw a cool video of a wheelchair-using med student with a specialized standing chair so he could reach the operative table on his surgery rotation. Anecdotally, there is a full time wheelchair-using student at my school as well. I believe they completed some type of healthcare accessibility internship beforehand.

 

[Goro]

It's happened, but it's rare.

 

[LunaOri]

I don’t think you will be discriminated against, but you will need to show that you can meet the technical standards. I have known several medical students and residents who are paraplegic. They ended up in IM, psychiatry, anesthesiology, pediatrics—and several more fields, such as pathology and radiology, are accessible.

 

[RangerBob]

I don't think you'll be discriminated against. Much of medicine is easy to practice from a wheelchair. Surgical fields would be difficult to break into, but not impossible.

I've met a number of med students/residents with spinal cord injuries (PM&R is a common field for them to gravitate to). We interviewed maybe 3 or 4 for an SCI fellowship, including one who required a full-time assistant because she had a complete/near complete tetraplegic SCI.

I don't know how many of them had their injury prior to medical school vs during med school or residency. So that could play a role.

If your disability is a big part of why you're choosing medicine, then I'd recommend writing about it. If it's actually not a big factor in why you chose medicine, it's certainly ok to leave it out--you do not have to disclose your disability in your personal statement. There are other areas in the secondary applications where you could likely bring it up as well, but it's also not required.

If there is a question on the application asking "do you have a disabling condition that impairs your ability to practice medicine" then you could write it there, though many would argue you'll be able to practice medicine just fine and wouldn't need to. In your case your disability is something people will be able to easily notice because of the wheelchair (unlike with severe depression, other severe mental health issues, chronic pain, chronic fatigue, etc.), so I would argue it's best to err on the conservative side and answer something to the extent of "I have a T12 incomplete spinal cord injury and because of this I rely on a manual wheelchair for mobility."

 

[gyngyn]

LCME accredited schools must post their technical standards.
They do vary quite a bit.
Check before you send an application fee!