Dr. Bisgrove’s father, David Turner, MD, was a career radiologist at Rush University in Chicago who eventually chaired the Department of Radiology. Her childhood audiologist at Rush was also on the medical school admissions committee and worked to make sure Dr. Bisgrove would have the accommodations she needed.
In 1999, Dr. Bisgrove became the first ever medical student at Rush University with an accommodated disability. (This fall, the incoming class of 230 medical students at Rush included 13 students with disability accommodations—the highest number since the school started tracking it.) “I learned from the process that sometimes you need to use whatever privilege you have to work to overcome a barrier,” she said.
In her family medicine practice now, Dr. Bisgrove uses an artificial intelligence computer scribe that takes notes for her—allowing her to read a patient’s lips and focus on their interaction. The hospital also provides transparent surgical masks for her patients to wear, which helps her read lips. Dr. Bisgrove also uses a special amplified stethoscope during examinations.
“This is my superpower,” Dr. Bisgrove said. “I’ve seen firsthand that my patients with disabilities say, ‘Oh my goodness, you get me.’ Of course I do, I’m one of you.”
While 28.7% of US adults have some form of disability, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a 2021 study in JAMA Network Open estimated that just 3% of physicians have a disability.
That disparity has real consequences. A 2023 study in JAMA Health Forum found that physicians with disabilities earn 20.8% less annually and 13.3% less hourly than physicians without a disability.