The Disability Partnership
Office@disabilitypartnership.co.uk
Rating: 4/4

Have you ever felt bewildered when you come across someone who is disabled? You so want to get it right and to help them to feel at ease, but somehow every time you open your mouth to speak you seem to put your foot in it.

On my ward round last week I chatted for a while with one of my patients who is blind.

"See you next week," I said as I left her room.

"See you, doctor," she replied. Oh dear, I thought as I walked on, not the most tactful use of words. As it happened she was not offended. She explained later that she would rather I used my natural choice of language than feel I was patronising her by picking my words carefully just for her.

Not everyone would react in this way, though, and some might be deeply offended. As a consultant in rehabilitation medicine, I have worked among people with severe disabilities for more than a decade and I still get it wrong more often than I would like, so what hope is there for the medical student?

One in four of us - the experience of disability does not hold all the answers, but it helps. It explains some of the issues from the perspective of disabled people. In doing so, it raises awareness of what it feels like to experience some of our well meant but often misdirected medical exchanges. From a whole variety of examples you can gain insight into scenarios that you may never even have thought about.

The booklet is brief, to the point, and in my view it's well worth a read. And the next time you come across someone with a disability, you'll be glad you did - and with any luck, so will they.