Sunday, 21 March 2010

The First Deaf physician...



The Deaf man who defied the odds to become a physician.

When doctors deliver babies, most of them can hear the first life-affirming cries of the infants as they enter the world.

Dr. Philip Zazove can't.

In 1981, Dr. Philip Zazove became the third certified deaf physician in the history of the United States. Now a specialist in family medicine at the University Hospital, he has spent more than 30 years in the medical field. When asked why he chose medicine, Zazove replied, "I like to help people. I like medicine. I like relationships with people."

But obtaining his dream job was no easy task.



Now 58, Zazove was diagnosed with profound hearing loss at age four. Though Zazove can't pinpoint the exact moment he lost his hearing, he recalls the frustration he felt when he couldn't hear what his father was saying as he helped him organize books on a shelf one day. "I said, 'Daddy, you have to turn around so I can see you, so I can understand you,' " Zazove recalls. Zazove could only understand his father by reading his lips, a task that could not be achieved when his father's back was turned to him.

The Zazoves recognized something was wrong with their son and took him to doctors who evaluated him and diagnosed his deafness. "They said I had a profound loss, and I would never be educatable," Zazove said. "And I should go to a deaf school, and I would be lucky if I got a job as a janitor." But because Zazove had already learned to speak English before losing his hearing, his situation differed from children born deaf who have never learned to speak.

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Posted by MM at 03:27
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5 comments:

  1. Wow. Shows how hard work and persistence usually will bring you success.

    I read the article and noticed that experts told his parents that he should attend an institutional school. Did they mean a residential school for the deaf?

    Excerpt from article:

    "Although experts at the time recommended he be placed in a state institutional school because of the severity of his hearing loss, his parents insisted that he attend public schools. They persuaded the local school district to give him a trial as the first deaf child in the area to be mainstreamed. He graduated from Niles West High School twelve years later, with top honors."

    I wonder what would have happened if he had attended a residential school for the deaf?

    I also wonder how he communicates. It did not say anywhere in the article whether he uses sign language or not. I'm just curious.

    Interesting post. Thanks.

    (e
    ReplyDelete
  2. I Googled him. He uses sign.

    (e
    ReplyDelete
  3. Awesome. I know of only one female deaf doctor. didn't know there were more.

    (e, I interpreted that statement to mean a state run residential school, such as a state school for the deaf.
    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for posting this entry. :)

    RLM
    ReplyDelete
  5. Not to downplay this doctor's accomplishments, but he is not the first Deaf physician. Dr. Jim Hutchinson became a family doctor back in the late 70's. He graduated from the Idaho School for the Deaf. He practiced medicine for about 25 years.
    ReplyDelete

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