My jaw is on the ground!

Parent Cafe
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<p>So I've recently decided to switch my major to human bio with a possible pre-physical therapy emphasis. My bio advisor was great as was my pre-pharmacy advisor (also my research lab supervisor). Met with my PT advisor today and I was absolutely appalled. He starts interviewing me, basically asking me questions about the professor (what do they do?, who do they help?), which I think is a little odd given that this is my first advising appointment for a pre-prof track. I answer pretty completely, as I probably know more about PT then most people off the street. Then he gets to his point: PT is physical and I have a physical disability. I shouldn't be a PT. He tells me right off the bat that he wouldn't want me working in acute care or other settings, saying I would be a danger to the patient and the patient to me. Starts quizzing me on how I would do patient transfer, etc--keep in mind this is my first advising appointment. I give some suggestions based on past experience, saying I'm sure I can work something out with time and exposure to the field. Tells me PT programs will see me unfit to do the job and won't accept me on that basis. Says my disability would make me "dangerous" and that I would never be able to get through internships or license requirements because I "can't do the work"!! Tells me to look into other fields but not OT basically that still involves--oh my God--physical interaction. When I ask about doing some of the required observation at the school rehab center, he says "yes"--as long as I'm not the patient--like I would think that! I don't even go to PT as I'm involved in Greek life, leadership, service, class, clubs, research, etc.</p>

<p>I kept my cool, but inside, I was almost spitting fire. How dare this guy who knows me for all of 15 minutes make judgments on what I can and can't do! I've done many, many physical things in my life that people would think impossible and worked around my limitations. I'm not an invalid!!! He doesn't even know what my disability is and for him to make snap judgment like that hurts. It's enough to make me consider dropping the pre-PT concentration all together, and I find it frightening that someone with such a limiting view of the disabled would be working with them! I'm angry, hurt, and horribly insulted!</p>

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<p>
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**How dare this guy who knows me for all of 15 minutes make judgments on what I can and can't do!

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**
How did the advisor know you were "impaired"? That part of this saga is missing.</p>

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<p>The guy may be ignorant. Is it possible the guy is right? There are plenty of jobs I can't do.</p>

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<p>Well, I have a walker, so that's a dead give-away.</p>

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<p>Thanks, it helps to know that as a part of your story. It was hard to tell if he had gotten the information from some other source.</p>

<p>I guess Orthopaedic Surgery is another one out the window then......according to this gent.</p>

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<p>Didn't you want to be a pharmacist?</p>

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<p>That sucks. I had my right arm amputated when I was 8 years old and ever since I've had to deal with people assuming I can't do this or that. It's usually well-intentioned and a minor annoyance. But what you're talking about is much more serious: it affects your chosen field of study and your career. It also amounts to discrimination or the sanctioning of future discrimination you might face and, therefore, might be illegal. </p>

<p>Can you ask for another advisor in a cool letter to the head of the program?</p>

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<p>First step - get a new advisor!</p>

<p>Really, you cannot work with this man!</p>

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<p>wolfpiper, he may have a point. Your ability to work in certain professional settings might be limited, and that could cramp your career.</p>

<p>Four months ago, I broke my leg very badly. In the course of recovering from this injury, I had a lot of PT -- in the hospital, in a rehab facility, at my home, and at an outpatient therapy facility.</p>

<p>In some of these settings, the physical therapist worked alone. And sometimes unexpected things occurred. For example, one time at my home, the home-care physical therapist was trying to teach me how to go up and down the front steps of my house on crutches. I managed to go down the steps but did not have enough arm strength to get back up. The physical therapist had to help me get back in by brute force -- not an easy task since I'm a rather large lady. There was nobody whom she could call on for help. The only people present were her and me. Fortunately, she was a large lady, too, and a lot stronger than me. If she hadn't been, I might still be out on the porch.</p>

<p>The physical therapist at the outpatient facility also worked alone. Among other things, she had to help me get on and off of a rather high examining/exercise table at a time when I was not allowed to put any weight whatsoever on one of my legs. I was surprised she could do it since she was really tiny, but she was immensely strong. Again, if she could not have done it, there would have been nobody she could call upon for help; usually, there wasn't even a receptionist on duty.</p>

<p>Could a person who uses adaptive equipment to walk do the things these physical therapists did? I don't know. You probably have excellent upper body strength, which is good, but you don't have both hands free at all times, do you? And there may be positions that you can't get into. Could you walk beside and hold onto a person who is learning to use a walker, or would your own equipment get in the way? Could you help and support a person who needs to get into or out of a wheelchair and can't do it without help? That's a two-handed job in which you would have to be able to balance well on your feet without any kind of adaptive equipment. The physical therapists who worked with me at my home and in the outpatient facility had to do these kinds of things, and they had to do them alone.</p>

<p>On the other hand, in the hospital and the rehab place, there were multiple people working in the physical therapy area at all times. Sometimes, two people acted as spotters for a patient who was doing something especially risky (like a person with a broken hip trying to stand for the first time) or for a patient who was particularly large. Some of these people were assistants working under the physical therapist's supervision. I think you would probably be fine in such a setting. But would you want a career where your choices of jobs would be restricted to only those settings where you would work with assistants?</p>

<p>I think it would be a very good idea for you to observe physical therapists at work -- in as wide a variety of settings as you can find. You would be able to get a better idea of whether or not your disability would limit your prospects in this career.</p>

<p>Meanwhile, if you are looking for alternatives to pharmacy, have you considered dietetics? It's really interesting, and it involves less chemistry than pharmacy does. And I don't think mobility impairments would be relevant at all in that field.</p>

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<p>Devil's advocate: I remember being really incensed at the advice my advisor gave me when I was an undergrad. I was in the middle of the country at a state university, majoring in political science. I enjoyed courses in international relations and French language. I didn't have a strong idea of what I wanted to do after college, just thought it made sense to take the courses I enjoyed. At the first meeting with my advisor (I transferred, so was not new to college) he recommended I stop wasting my time with French and concentrate on courses like public administration and state government, courses that would make me more employable. I was insulted and felt he didn't know me or what I wanted. I complained to a trusted older friend, who pointed out that he was probably just doing his job - wasn't the goal to graduate students who could be employed? And my advisor was quite right that the university I attended didn't produce a lot of students working in foreign service. (Or I should say, students capable of working in the foreign arena - Dick Cheney comes to mind). </p>

<p>Fast forward to the present time: I finshed my undergrad degree, got a master's and worked in administration. I've also lived in a foreign country and learned the basics of that language (not French) so it is possible to reach goals in another way. </p>

<p>You should find another advisor, and see what (s)he says. You might not like the answers. Then think about what it is you really want to get out of this and look for a way to make it work.</p>

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<p>You shouldn't accept what this advisor says as gospel, but you shouldn't to reject it either. Get a 2nd and 3rd opinion from others who have experience in the fields and who will give you straight answers.</p>

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<p>what the advisor said was out there -- you are correct, in 15 minutes he couldn't have known what your capabilities are.</p>

<p>But -- if you consider going forward with the PT career, I would guess this is the opinion you are going to run into again and again, correct or not. I think it will make obtaining internships and employment difficult -- right or wrong --so you might want to decide if you want to fight that battle the rest of your educational career.</p>

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<p>wolfpiper, I think your need for a walker precludes your ability to perform PT in many situations. The strength & stability you need when working with patients will be beyond that of someone who needs to stabilize his own mobility with a walker. PT is about the PATIENTS, not the practitioner. While there would be types of therapy you could perform, your range would be limited. Thus, both your patients and your employers would be inconvienced or poorly served.</p>

<p>I think you should look at the issue from ourside you own point of view. Are you entering a field where you have all the tools needed to perform well? Without accomodations? Without creating a hassle for employers & fellow therapists? Without shortchanging a single patient?</p>

<p>There are countless careers you could persue in which a physical disability will have absolutely no impact on your ability to perform. Out of fairness to future clients & co-workers, why not explore those?</p>

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<p>
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There are countless careers you could persue in which a physical disability will have absolutely no impact on your ability to perform. Out of fairness to future clients & co-workers, why not explore those?

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</p>

<p>Since you are interested in health-related careers, you might also want to consider the fact that in the right health-related career -- one where your disability is not a problem, such as pharmacy, dietetics, or social work -- having a visible physical disability is a tremendous asset. Some of the people you work with will have newly acquired disabilities and will be feeling that they have been totally screwed by fate and will never again have a normal life. Seeing a competent health professional with a visible disability matter-of-factly going about her work sends a powerful message. Unfortunately, though, I don't think your employer would consider paying you double for doing your job and providing this message at the same time. ;)</p>

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<p>I agree with the posters above - when I had PT I saw a lot of people that needed physical assistance and most of the PT's where I went actually looked like personal trainers! Please don't be offended by his lack of tact in delivering the message, but he may have been correct. I think that shadowing a PT would be great for you as well as interviewing several for their perspectives. I remember being told that as a 5'1" woman it would be difficult for me to pursue certain careers and I realized that they were probably correct.
Have you considered speech therapy? That would be related yet your walker would not be a factor at all.</p>

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<p>He could do exclusive hand therapy. Work for a hand surgeon and do that type of PT. Just a thought.</p>

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<p>Good point hazmat - there are probably a lot of related fields and/or specialties so perhaps the op can narrow it down with some research and discuss those areas specifically with the advisor. I am sure he would respect the op's tenacity to pursue their dream. Good luck!</p>

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<p>
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Have you considered speech therapy?

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</p>

<p>That's a great idea, especially if you like working with children. In my experience, kids don't usually mind going to speech therapy because it doesn't hurt and it involves a lot of individual attention from an adult. </p>

<p>Audiology is another interesting career.</p>

<p>Getting back to PT for a moment, I realized that there is another aspect of the job where a mobility impairment would be a problem. When I went to PT after breaking my leg, I noticed that the physical therapists used their own bodies as teaching tools. For example, toward the end of my therapy, when I was learning to walk with a cane rather than crutches, the therapist used her own body to help teach me how to walk with a cane correctly. She would demonstrate the things I was doing wrong and then demonstrate the correct techniques. A person whose body works in a non-standard way would not be able to do this.</p>

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<p>wolfpiper,
I can understand how upset this made you and I don't condone the advisor's approach.</p>

<p>However, I can say that having looked recently at some of the top physical therapy schools websites (D is considering applying for Doctoral degree in PT),
they ALWAYS make reference in the admissions sections to being able to physically manage patients. I'd suspect that each of these schools makes admissions decisions a little differently in this regard.</p>

<p>I agree with all above who suggest another opinion. One thing you could do is email the various schools and ask. IF there are many who respond negatively to you, that could be an important early piece of information suggesting a slightly different career path (ie audiology, speech therapy, etc).
Because the prerequisite classes for Dr of PT are many, this would be very useful information to know upfront.</p>

<p>Some of the well known Dr of PT programs are USC, Duke, Emory, Northwestern, Pitt, Boston University, U of Miami, etc. USNWR did a top 20 list of them recently if you're looking for rankings.</p>

<p>I am anxious to hear back from you about what you learn next. Please keep us posted.</p>

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<p>Wolfpiper...I'm not sure how it is for PT schools, but many medical schools require you to sign a statement saying that medicine is a physically demanding field and if you cannot complete all the physical requirements to an adequate level often without accomodations (ie, it's hard to sterilize a walker for surgery - I know that's not what you're thinking, but it's just an example), then you have to remove yourself from the program. I'd imagine many PT programs have similar documents and requirements.</p>