“You can’t be a nurse!”

We see a lot of discussion about whether nurses MUST be empathic, if they have to love people, if they have to feel called to nursing. All of that is debatable.

What isn’t debatable is what’s acceptable when you talk about others. Racism and sexism are absolutely not okay. Ableism is also unacceptable and we see it regularly here. We are going to talk about that now.

Disability exists on a spectrum. Blind, for example, doesn’t mean you have 0 visual input and there are many people who are considered blind who do have partial vision or even have the majority of their vision intact. The same is true for people who are deaf / hard of hearing. It’s also true for people who use wheelchairs (some people who use wheelchairs can walk!). People who are missing a limb can do the same things as people who have fully functional limbs. Etc etc.

How can you know what others are capable of? You don’t and you won’t. And you have probably been taught that people with _____ disability can’t do [activity that everyone else does]. So you are using the information you have, and you just don’t know better.

But you can educate yourself on disabilities and prepare yourself to be a better nurse, a better community member, & a better human.

People with disabilities can be nurses. The road might be harder for them, and you can make it easier by not dragging them down and discouraging them.

Here are some interesting people, videos, and resources to check out. Most of them are nursing/healthcare related but not all.

General:

National Organization of Nurses with Disabilities: https://nond.org/

Empowering Nurses with Disabilities: https://www.aacn.org/nursing-excellence/nurse-stories/empowering-nurses-with-disabilities

Wheelchair use / mobility

Andrea Dazel, RN: https://thehoya.com/science/the-seated-nurse-discusses-healthcare-career-as-a-disabled-person/

https://www.instagram.com/theseatednurse/?hl=en

https://newmobility.com/person-of-the-year-andrea-dalzell/

Ryann Mason, RN: https://www.motioncomposites.com/en_us/community/blog/community/being-a-registered-nurse-in-a-wheelchairryann-mason?___from_store=en_intl

How do WC users drive?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuYKc_SyURY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVVDsPA1Cbo