Disability Redefines ‘Ability’ in the Medical Profession
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Creativity and adaptability contribute to the success of doctors with disabilities
Lazarus is an adjunct professor of psychiatry.
Last month, Elton John told Good Morning America‘s Robin Roberts that he has lost significant vision in his right eye due to an infection and is unsure whether he can record an album again. Paul Simon recently revealed that hearing loss has caused him to drop certain songs from his live performances. Simon remarked, “You know Matisse, when he was suffering at the end of his life, when he was in bed, he envisioned all these cut-outs and had a great creative period. So, I don’t think creativity stops with disability. So far, I haven’t experienced that. And I hope not to.”
Henri Matisse’s late-life work with gouache-painted paper cut into forms with scissors, known as gouaches découpées, is a testament to how creativity can adapt and even flourish in the face of physical limitations. Confined to a wheelchair after surgery for abdominal cancer in 1941, Matisse turned exclusively to this vibrant, innovative art form, and created masterpieces like The Snail, Memory of Oceania, and Blue Nude [...]