Type of Submission: Health Story

Promises Like Dolls

"Promises Like Dolls" is a very short story (123 words) about the experience of multiple miscarriages. The story refers to various objects (dolls, books, flowers, t-shirts, stuffed animals) as a way of reflecting on expectations of motherhood (her own and those of others and of society) and on the grief of miscarriage. It also represents the limits of social support for miscarriage. The story is short enough to be read together in class, both as a reflection on how the experience of medical events is shaped by cultural norms and social experiences and as a prompt for discussing how the author utilizes specific imagery and description to convey (and imply) complex emotions in a very short work.

Fae Kayarian: Physician in Training, Poet in Progress

Fae Kayarian is a poet and medical student who began as a scribe at Harvard Medical School. She has shared her experiences through poetry in the form of an autobiography titled "Journals of a Visitor" and several stand-alone poems. Her website contains eight poems ranging in topics in medicine from her point of view as a bystander and now a student. Generally useful for close reading of poetry. Two poems - "The Color Blue" and "It's been six years" could interest families of patients experiencing loss and dementia. Others would be beneficial for teaching physicians and other health professionals in mentor positions. Her poetry would serve as a reminder of what it's like to be a student and the impact that medical educators have on the future of medicine as mentors.

My body is a cage of my own making

An accessible, 7-8 page excerpt from her book, Hunger: A Memoir Of (My) Body. Roxane Gay writes about her struggle with her weight and body image. When people commented on her body, refused to sit next to her on planes, or took food out of her grocery cart, Gay struggled to accept, and even love, her body. When she broke her ankle and needed emergency surgery she began to take a healthier approach to living in a larger sized body. Useful for classes and community groups to talk about fat-shaming.

¡Por favor, déjame lavar y aspirar más!

Sam narrates the impact of his pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) through his chores around the house. After a discussion with his wife, Anna, about how to fairly split up these duties while his vision progressively worsens, Sam takes up cooking. Chores used to be tedious, but now he admits he finds peace in being able to perform actions like vacuuming and making the bed. Most importantly, he discovers that he and Anna share these out of the love they have for each other. Pseudoxanthoma elasticum is a hereditary disease that calcifies elastic fibers, mainly connective tissue. A case study about this disease could be supplemented with this article in medical school. Focus on relational issues would appeal to an undergraduate class. 20 minute read for advanced Spanish learners.

240 Birds

Juan Pablo Culasso was born blind, but until the age of 5 or 6 this had little effect on him because his family encouraged him to explore and be as active as any other child. Once he started school, an educational system that was unprepared to incorporate him into learning environments built around sighted children created significant barriers to receiving any education at all. His family took over his education and he learned rapidly, including mastering the piano and guitar. One day Pablo informed his father that his guitar is out of tune, off by a hertz or two. This is how they learned he had perfect pitch. He began listening to birds and memorizing each call, eventually being able to identify 240 bird calls. He won a national competition for "The smartest person in Chile" and now works in an ornithology lab in Canada. This podcast can work for upper intermediate learners of Spanish, or higher. The speaker uses a dialect from Uruguay. It could spark discussion on what constitutes a "disability" and how rare talents - like perfect pitch - can be obscured behind that label. Spanish transcript and English translation of the transcript are available.

Una carta para mama

Carla tells her story of how her mother's disposition changed after her father's hospitalization with diabetes. One day, Carla came home to see her mother, Jaquelina, on the floor. She shook her and slapped her awake. Jaquelina finally woke up to say she wished she had aborted Carla. This is only where the physical and verbal abuse began. Years like this went on and Carla moved out, cutting off all ties. However, after hearing about Jaquelina attending AA, they both began rekindling their bond. Carla comes from Argentina. The audio may be fit for intermediate Spanish learners. This podcast features themes of physical and verbal abuse and therefore may be suitable for an upper level undergraduate course or medical school student.

To understand autism, don’t look away

Carina Morillo shares her story as the mother of a son with autism through a TedTalk. The video is in Spanish with English subtitles; a transcript in English and Spanish is available as well. Morillo's 15 year old son, Ivan, was diagnosed when he was two and a half and at that time, his parents did not have access to internet information or expert advice about autism. Morillo describes how she learned to connect with her son through activities he enjoyed and how she learned to appreciate and build upon his strengths, such as a strong visual memory, which became a basis for his communication through images. She describes support from a local grocer who gave her son a job that utilizes his passion for organizing items. Her message is that one does not need to be an expert to be curious and inclusive. Eye contact is a part of the story and a metaphor for inclusion; some autistics might point out that insisting on eye contact can be distracting, even painful. However, the larger point of the story emphasizes valuing autistic abilities and working with their interests to create connection. This story can prompt a discussion that may challenge stereotypes about autism and expert systems of medicalization and treatment.

Love Sorrow Self Portrait

"Love Sorrow Self Portrait" is a self-portrait series the photographer, Natalie Brescia, has created to reflect her experience of major depressive disorder. The pieces frequently show her in shadow, and use split bisected frames with stark black and white contrasts so experience the nature of her emotions and a fractured sense of self. There are also thread and scissor images that Brescia says evoke the Greek mythology of the Fates with the compromising position of the scissors representing the closeness of death. The series of images does suggest a narrative thread, and could prompt discussion of how narrative can be conveyed in images. The images also prompt discussion about the experience of mental illness and the ways words may fall short of conveying it.

True Stories: Living with HIV

This web page provides the stories of three people with HIV. Each story is unique, but they have all come to embrace their lives with HIV, providing support to those who recently received a diagnosis. Chelsea White now runs an HIV and AIDS adolescent outreach program. Nicholas Snow hosts a radio show that touches many topics, including life with HIV. Josh Robins manages a blog to emphasize that he is still the same person, to reduce the stigma of AIDS, and to connect with others who also have the disease. This 10-minute read could be used to discuss stigmatizing conditions, perhaps to have general audiences reflect on stigma or a starting point for further research into how those diagnosed with HIV can lead the lives they had before the diagnosis.

My Life is More ‘Disposable’ During This Pandemic

Written near the beginning of the COVID pandemic, the essay discusses how triaging care and minimizing the severity of COVID (e.g., saying, "only" chronically ill people and the elderly are likely to become severely ill or die) reflects the lack of value placed on the lives of the old and disabled. The author, Rabbi Elliott Kukla, is immune compromised and a child of parents who survived the Holocast. He reflects on how people's unwillingness to give up travel or eating out to help stop the spread reflects a lack of care for those who are vulnerable. Although written early in the pandemic, the essay picks up on themes raised by disability and other activists, questioning the "return to normal" following COVID. Could be used to prompt discussion of the difference in scale between public health arguments and statistical analysis and the value of individual life and perspective this narrative advocates for acknowledging.