Alexandra Adams becomes the UK's first deafblind doctor

Alexandra Adams has become the United Kingdom's first ever deafblind doctor after graduating earlier this month. According to the reporting, Dr Adams has just under 5% central vision in her left eye and severe and profound hearing loss, and she completed years of study and training while overcoming significant hurdles along the way. In an interview, she explained that she had originally been gearing towards the 2012 Paralympics as a swimmer before a surgery went very wrong, an operation that was meant to be a simple overnight stay in hospital but that left her in the hospital for just over a year, having to undergo multiple surgeries as a bed-bound 16-year-old. She said it did not really occur to her at the beginning that she would be the first deafblind doctor, and that in the early stages it was mostly a case of trying to fit in, while knowing the path was going to be different and difficult. Adams said she had to make sure that pursuing medicine was not only realistic but also safe, because that was the utmost priority, and she described going through occupational health assessments and confronting tick boxes that, as a disabled person, she was never going to fit, adding that there is no perfect image of being a doctor.

Alexandra Adams has become the United Kingdom's first ever deafblind doctor, reaching the milestone after graduating earlier this month. According to the reporting, becoming a medic takes years and years of study and training, and Dr Adams completed all of that while having to overcome some significant hurdles along the way, marking a first for the profession in the country.

The scale of those hurdles is considerable. According to the reporting, Dr Adams has just under 5% central vision in her left eye as well as severe and profound hearing loss. Despite those conditions, she pursued and completed the demanding process required to qualify and practise as a doctor.

Her path towards medicine began in an unexpected place. According to the interview, Adams had originally been gearing towards the 2012 Paralympics as a swimmer, setting her sights on elite sport before her plans were dramatically altered by a health crisis that changed the direction of her life.

That turning point came with a medical procedure that did not go as planned. According to the interview, she had a surgery which went very wrong; it was meant to be a simple overnight stay in the hospital, but she ended up being in the hospital for just over a year, having to undergo multiple surgeries. She recalled being a bed-bound 16-year-old at the time.

Adams said the significance of the achievement was not something she dwelt on at first. According to the interview, she did not recall it ever really occurring to her that she was the first deafblind doctor, especially at the beginning, and it was only as she began to share her journey that people told her she must be the first. In those early days, she said, it was mostly a case of trying to fit in.

She was clear-eyed about the difficulty of what she was taking on. According to the interview, she knew it was going to be different and difficult, and at the very beginning she had to make sure that pursuing medicine was not only realistic but also safe, because that was the utmost priority as she worked towards becoming a doctor.

Part of that process involved formal checks and institutional questions about whether she could do the job safely. According to the interview, she went through occupational health assessments, and she reflected that as a disabled person she was never going to fit the perfect tick box, adding that there is no perfect image of being a doctor in the first place.

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