Nursing is a booming career field. Hospitals compete for graduates with offers to pay off student loans and award huge bonuses. Perhaps this financial security, coupled with an aptitude for science and caring instincts, have piqued your interest in the nursing field … but deep down, you wonder if having a disability is going to bar your way.
Nursing with a Disability
Not likely, according to an exciting new book by pediatric nurse practitioner and disability advocate Donna Maheady. Nursing Students with Disabilities is a concise, uplifting resource for anyone with a disability who is considering making nursing their career.
Extremely well organized in bite-size chunks, the book presents real-life cases of students dealing with everything from hearing loss to a full-body cast while going through nursing school. First-person accounts cover the onset of the disability, problems the student encountered, how these were overcome, and the student’s recommendations.
Each is followed by Maheady’s evaluation, arranged as an individualized education plan for the student. This orderly breakdown provides structured information for prospective students and educating institutions alike. Included are the student’s current performance, impact on the academic program, assessments of how the disability affects their ability to perform the job, assistive technology needed, short-and long-term goals, and steps to attain those goals in both clinical and classroom settings.
ADA Guidelines
The practical advice makes demands of the student as well as the accrediting institution, treating schooling as a partnership between the two. Disability rights guaranteed under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) are balanced with the law’s limitations. Maheady, who holds a Registered Nurse degree as well as a Doctor of Education, is eminently qualified to dispense advice.
Beyond her education, Maheady founded and directs ExceptionalNurse.com, a website for nurses with disabilities. She is a passionate advocate for inclusion of people with disabilities in all areas of employment, but her drive is tempered with a clear understanding of the term “reasonable accommodation.”
Real Life Stories
And yet, the book’s hopeful message is that there is a place in the nursing arena for nearly everyone. One such example is Colleen, who has a back injury, hearing impairment and must use a walker or wheelchair. She readily admits that being a nursing student with a disability is challenging. But it’s also the main motivator in her life:
“Every little hurdle I scale, the more I believe I can get up and do it again tomorrow,” Colleen says. “But, tomorrow may be one of those days when my putting two feet on the floor causes excruciating pain. I wonder how I can survive the day, but, somehow, I put one foot in front of the other. The major problem is getting out of bed; but, knowing I’ll be giving to someone else helps get me through the aches and pains.”
Inspiration and Resources
The volume contains an afterward and expansive list of relevant resources, covering everything from amplified stethoscopes to online discussion groups, see-through surgical masks to testing services.
Don’t skip the opening pages. Your spirit will be lifted from the first Mark Twain quote, through an anecdotal story about violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman, and into Maheady’s revealing preface. The introduction, too, is necessary material that gets right to the point.
Every job counselor, every professor, every student and hospital staff member would be better off for reading this book, which is so thoughtful, so exemplary in all its parts that it could well be used as a model for inclusion in any professional education program.
At the time of this writing, the book is selling on Amazon for $110, however, buy it from the publisher for a very reasonable $19.95.
Nursing Students with Disabilities by Donna Carol Maheady, Exceptional Parent Press, 2003, 191 pp., ISBN 0-9309589-12-8.
