Is Having a Child Really a Disability?
I mean, you don’t choose to have a disability – it’s either inherited or a result of an accident of some sort. You DO choose to have a child, though.
I should probably stop there and go back a bit (for you non-local readers). There is a local woman reciving a Ph.D. from Harvard. While at med school she had two children and is currently nursing at least one of them. This woman also had Dyslexia and Attention Deficit Hyper-Active Disorder (ADHD). She failed the state medical exam last spring and is taking it again.
She’s already requested that she get extra time for her test because of her two disabilities. That request was granted under the American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA) and her exam has been spread out over two days instead of just one (which I’m okay with). Now she’s suing the board because she’s nursing her baby and wants even more time for breaks.
A judge ruled against her (in my opinion, correctly). She appealed and now the appeals judge has approved of her request (idiot). It’s rare that I get incredibly angry over stuff like this. I mean, I’m by no means a bleeding heart liberal, but I usually do sympathize with the underdog.
In this case, I want this woman to fail the medical exam again. I want potential patients at Massachusetts General Hospital (where she’ll be a resident if she passes the exam) to refuse to see her.
She’s a perfect example of the spoiled generation these days (of which I’m also a part) who believes they have this sense of entitlement to anything and everything. These are the types who decry playing Tag or Dodgeball in school as developmentally stunting. These are the types who sue over every little thing. These are the types who tell their children (and must have been told themselves their whole lives) that they’re special.
Well, news flash. You’re not. We’re all individual, but all we’re not special. Life isn’t fair – you can’t always get what you want.
It also goes without saying that I’d be a bit reluctant to go to a Dyslexic doctor with Attention Deficit Disordor. Doctors are human to begin with and prone to mistakes – just like everybody else. But when lives are at stake, I’d be a bit concerned if a doctor is a) easily distracted, b) more likely to invert numbers in prescriptions, and c) need to run off in the middle of an appointment to nurse a child. If I’m paying you $100+ and hour, I want your focus on me and me alone.
Anyway, I was relieved to read in the comments section of the Boston globe that nearly everybody (including nursing mothers past and present) is disgusted by this woman.
Phew – that felt good. Thanks for letting me vent!
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Oh, I should also mention that I’m all for mother’s rights to nurse in public. I have no issue with that and would be fine seeing a woman nurse in a restaurant, shop, park, workplace, etc….
Hear! Hear!! A voice of reason crying in the wilderness!
(grin)
I’m all for a woman’s right to nurse in public too. Whip out those hooters!! But seriously this woman taking the test is a simpleton, and like you said has that sense of entitlement that is so common these days. ADHD is a completely made up condition, and this woman is abusing laws that are to help people with REAL disabilities, like no legs and stuff like that.