Teaching medical students about disability: A community-based approach

The 'standard' curriculum in most Western medical schools provides in-depth coverage of basic science and clinical medicine, at a level probably unparalleled in human history. Yet there is widespread feeling among both medical educators and the public that certain areas vital to the physician, particularly those less dramatic and less technologically advanced, and those concerned with the physician-patient relationship, are taught less well. These deficits may in part also lie at the root of some of the dissatisfaction by the public with the medical profession as a whole. The chronically ill and disabled are among those most disadvantaged and discriminated against in society, and their problems are poorly understood by the healing professions. To address these issues, what is believed to be a unique course on the disabled in the community has been designed and carried out, the goal being to prepare medical students to face and deal with disabilities. The response has been most gratifying and enthusiastic, and in the present article the experience gained is presented.