Deaf MD: the word can't isn't in his vocabulary
CMA News 1998;8(4): 7
© 1998 Canadian Medical Association
Dr. Hartley Bressler, a family physician and chiropractor who practises in Pickering, Ont., was the first deaf physician to graduate from a Canadian medical school. He hopes his experience will help other deaf or hard-of-hearing students overcome the challenges involved in becoming a physician.
"Deaf physicians and medical students tell me they feel a great sense of relief and excitement when they discover that others have walked in their shoes," he said.
Helping the deaf, and deaf physicians specifically, thrive in the hearing world led him to join forces with California family physician Dr. Frank Hochman, creator of the Society for Hearing Impaired Physicians (SHIP). A 1976 graduate of Rutgers Medical School, Hochman was the first congenitally deaf physician to enter practice in the US.
"The goal of SHIP is to meet with other deaf medical doctors and medical students and discuss the pertinent issues that affect our own practices and the students entering the profession," said Bressler.
Passing on those experiences to others is important, he added, partly because it proves it can be done and partly because it lets medical students know they are not alone as they try to overcome barriers within the academic and medical systems. "While in university we [he and Dr. Hochman] probably broke the ice so future deaf medical students could not only study medicine but also benefit from our knowledge, experience and support in actual work settings," he said.
At a recent SHIP meeting in Boston, Dr. Bressler presented a critical review of electronic stethoscopes and oscilloscopes that enhance and reproduce cardiac sounds visually. "As the stethoscope is medicine's most basic tool, virtually every physician from any specialty can identify and relate to it. The lecture ran the gamut from antique stethoscopes to the telemedicine tools of auscultation via satellite and modem. Physicians and students alike enjoyed trying the more than 30 different stethoscopes on display.
Dr. Bressler says students can overcome the logistical difficulties inherent in being a deaf student, but the attitudes they have to deal with may represent the biggest challenge.
"Medical school is difficult enough whether you hear or not, and deaf medical students usually have to educate and sensitize faculty and students on issues of deafness almost every day, while dealing with a very real physical disadvantage," he said.
Although his combination practice keeps him busy — he is one of only a handful of physicianchiropractors in Canada — Bressler is also interested in studies the impact on society of delayed detection of hearing loss in infants and children, and works with the Canada International Scientific Exchange Program. The program tries to educate physicians and parents on the importance of early detection and promotes the development of community services associated with deafness in Canada and the Middle East.
Educating those in the hearing world can be tiring and stressful, he adds, because it involves bridging a gap between two cultures. "There are literally books written on the attitudes of hearing people toward the deaf, and vice-versa. It is a huge issue because, obviously, the two groups are on opposite ends of the spectrum."
Bressler said he and Hochman hope SHIP will continue to grow and help more deaf physicians and students. "By establishing this group, we can perhaps accomplish more than we can as individual voices," said Bressler. "The deaf and hard-of-hearing populations are very well connected, and any information that we disseminate will have some very good channels."
To learn more about the Society of Hearing Impaired Physicians and the next meeting, contact Dr. Hartley Bressler either by email (hbressler@onramp.ca) or fax (905 420-3170).
Dr. Hartley Bressler
Born: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Graduated: McMaster, 1993
Married, three children
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