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Back for More

I was such a hit last April when I addressed two classes of first-year medical students as part of their Doctoring course at the University of Pennsylvania that I was invited back this year.

As was the case last year, the topic of discussion was my experiences and feelings as a person with a disability, particularly when interacting with the medical world. My favorite question was what people do wrong when meeting people in wheelchairs. In my opinion, people get carried away worrying what to say or how to act. If you mean well, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

But I implored the students, "Unless you have a death wish, never grab someone's hand when it is resting on the controller of a motorized wheelchair!"

It was also great fielding questions about my book, now that I am a published author. I guess I'll have to come up with something even better for next year.,.