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Sunday, April 11, 2004His arms juddered as he placed a carton of eggs into a plastic sack. His bottom lip was slick with saliva. He wore a yellow plastic name tag upon which he had scrawled ''Jerry'' in kindergarten penmanship. He was middle-aged, like my brothers, David and Chris, and my sister, Diane. They have similar difficulties with motor skills and coordination, but they can't write their names. My siblings are affected by fragile X syndrome, a condition that causes their mental retardation and makes them hypersensitive to sounds and touch. I spent my childhood drawing them out of their shyness and helping them communicate with others. I couldn't guess Jerry's condition, but his mental age must have been about 12. The only evidence offered to support that estimate of mental age is the man's physical appearance. But physical appearance often belies what lies in the core of a man. I met a new patient last week who has a severe form of cerebral palsy. Her appearance could just as easily be described by that paragraph. She needed help filling out her insurance paperwork because her hand could not hold a pen steadily. Her speech was slow and garbled. I noticed that my staff spoke slowly and purposefully to her, as if talking to a child. But after a few minutes in the exam room, it became obvious that she was a smart and capable woman. She's also a writer, and she had samples of her writing to show me. She must carry her portfolio with her to new encounters like this to dispel the lie that her body conveys about her mind. First impressions are so hard to overcome. Sometimes we never overcome them. posted by Sydney on 4/11/2004 10:55:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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