Impossible Standards to Live Up To

The lack of disability awareness in schools coupled with unrealistic expectations to be “superhuman” in clinical settings create a rat race that doctors say is untenable — for everyone. For those who finish medical school and postgraduate training, the belief is that if they managed to do it, everyone else should be expected to as well.
During Cejas’s neurology training program, a now disabled physician, there were several months when she was required to work a 14-hour shift for six consecutive nights. This can be seen in the picture attached below.

“It’s impossible to live up to that standard, whether you are disabled or not,” she said. “I’m thinking about how one of my friends in residency who got a kidney stone because she was holding her urine for too long. That’s something that happens all the time.” (Lu, 2021)