Dr. Paige Church on Being a Doctor and a Person with a Disability

Born with spina bifida, a chronic spinal disability that she tried to hide for most of her life, Dr. Church went on to become a pediatric specialist who treats kids with the same condition. Growing up without much language on how to talk about and process her condition, she spent much of her life grappling with wanting to tell her story in a way that shares the issues associated with it while maintaining dignity and privacy for herself and her patients. She has become an important advocate for kids in medical settings where she has challenged her colleagues to treat patients with more sensitivity and understanding and less  scientific objectivity. She has also been vocal in her efforts to reframe our society’s views of disabilities as a weakness and instead view all people as living on a spectrum of varying abilities. You can follow Dr. Church @: https://twitter.com/paigetchurch1?lang=en