Presenting Author University of Mississippi Medical Center
Living life in a wheelchair was never part of the plan, but life comes the way it comes. The speaker has endured a spinal surgery combined with a lower extremity amputation, proceeded through public schools, learning to play piano without the use of pedals, learning to drive, ultimately deciding a future in the medical field was the way to go. One of the biggest decisions that would face her would be deciding to not want a wheelchair to define her life. Which is why she always chose things that were considered for “able-bodied” people. Throughout her education, there have always been classes that have been a bit of a struggle. However, one of the hardest was Gross Anatomy.
This session will focus on the speaker’s lived experience as a bilateral lower extremity amputee navigating life and the health professional curriculum. For most people anatomy class is a little easier because they have all their limbs and can demonstrate on their own. But for her, not having those major parts, it was a bit of a struggle until her anatomy professor helped relate the lower extremity to the upper extremity. She can ambulate on her hands when not using her power wheelchair, so this technique helped to make that topic stick. This speaker will help demonstrate how anatomy educators can facilitate success for students with disabilities through an individualized approach.
