Disability in Medicine - A Conversation with Beth Dillon

There are 9 characteristics protected underthe UK Equality Act 2010 - Disability is oneof them. “Disability” is a broad umbrellaencompassing a multitude of conditions.People with disabilities and other protectedcharacteristics, should receive equity inopportunities to learn and thrive inEducation – this is known as “InclusiveEducation”. Dr Beth Dillon graduated in 2023 and Icaught up with her to learn a little bit moreof her time in University of Glasgow MedicalSchool, through the lens of a student – now adoctor - with disabilities.Hi Beth. Thank you for taking the time tochat about this with me. Are youcomfortable sharing your disability?The main disabilities which affect me day today are Juvenile idiopathic arthritis. I'm alsodeaf and have a visual impairment. Did you disclose your disability to yourpeers and Medical School?I did disclose to the medical school anddisability services prior to starting as wasaware that I may need some additionalsupport in my studies. It is also not entirelyinvisible so I felt like there wasn't really achoice. With peers I tend to drip feed themwhen I first meet people. Generally peopleare curious and my hearing aids are prettyvisible so that's usually the first thing I amasked about. This is unless I am using mycrutches - then I get a lot more questions.Otherwise I tend to let people know whenwe are planning things. I can't really walkvery far at all, and I am not very fast so itusually comes up. Now I feel I only reallymention it if it's relevant to something weare doing or if I am asked about it. I ammore than happy to answer questions,however I usually feel awkward being theone to bring it up.What challenges did you encounter andhow did you over come them?There were lots of challenges at medicalschool! Zoom was a bit of a nightmare in COVID initially it didn't have captions at all andeven now they are wildly inaccurate withScottish accents. I therefore didn't hearthe majority of Phase 3 lectures and thenany subsequent ones on zoom. I enquiredabout moving small group teaching ontoTeams as the captions are alwayssignificantly better and was told thiswasn't possible. This was frustrating and inthe end I stopped logging on and just spenttime going through power points andcontent surrounding it. It didn't take long before I was just choosingwhich battles to fight and which to just dothe best I could with the situation. Hearing became a lot better with placement,I could go back to using my radio aid (adevice which streams speech to my hearingaids) but there were still challenges withmasks. Placement however I struggled with on amobility perspective. It also was difficultbecause as part of my JIA, I get frequent highfevers - so getting up in the mornings if Ispent the night feverish - was tricky.Attendance was an ongoing issue. I missedall of Phase 2 MSK due to being in hospital.However this was pretty easy to catch upwith and have found placement to not be abig issue as long as I was engaged whenthere and/or make up the time and haveopen conversations with supervisors.That sounds tough. Were there any upsideto being a medical student with a disability?Generally I feel like the main upside isempathy. I feel you can better understandthe emotions that come with being inhospital and the pure exhaustion of havingto fight for your needs to be met. I think italso gives you a more flexible mindset ofrealizing that a situation may not be perfectbut can be worked around and improved. Ialso find it makes you more likely to be lesscynical and to believe patients when youqualify so less likely to miss things.Overall though I feel like having a disabilityis neutral in a way.That’s such an inspiring and mature takeon what must be a challenging situation.Thank you. Tell us a little about the awardwinning LUNA Project and why youstarted this charity (while being a busymedical student!).The LUNA project is a charity set up by twoof my peers and I, which works to increasesupport for young people aged 13-30. Wedo this through disability education inprimary and secondary schools (start themyoung!), the creation of resources actuallyaimed at this age group instead of the littlekid resources or those aimed at olderpeople with no in between. We also runblogs, create micro resources andcollaborate with lots of other charities andorganizations. We've done lots ofworkshops at conferences andorganizations aimed at those working withyoung people. We are entirely led by under30s and anyone with any ideas are allwelcome to join! Bravo!! Any particular positive / negativeevent stand out during your medicalschool years?Collapsing in anatomy and spending thesubsequent 6 weeks having a QEUH“vacation” definitely tops the list as themost negative event! Overall though Ireally enjoyed medical school!How have you found FY1 so far?I am loving F1! I was in Haematology for myfirst job which I absolutely loved and wasalso great for my rubbish immune systemI am now on acute admissions, which I haveenjoyed less but I do really like the people Iwork with. I move to A&E in a few weeks,which I am really looking forward to!! I alsofind it easier being able to finish a day andnot having to go home and study even ifthere is a cap on sick days!What next for Dr Dillon?Oh I have no idea what is next. I am justtaking things as they come!Have you any wise words to say to themedical students who are living with adisability?Just because you might do somethingdifferently doesn't mean you are doing itwrong!