Accessibility in the Arts and Healthcare
5:52 PM
Today’s post is a little rushed because I’m in a bit of a
time crunch. Now is probably the time to mention that this blog is being merged
with a class assignment. As part of my global maternal and child health class,
I have to keep a blog. And, well, I already have a blog, so my professor has
allowed me to merge my assignment posts with my extant blog. This shouldn’t be
a huge change. After all, I already write about health. Basically, I’ll have to
remember to make a post at least once a week, which will be good because I’m
terrible about that.
jacket: Tommy Hilfiger, dress: Forever 21, skirt: thrifted, shoes: Nine West
Despite the weather earlier this week being nice, today it
is unbearably hot. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you look at it)
pretty much my entire day today has been spent indoors in either a classroom or
an office. I’ve started mentally preparing for fall, and all I want to do is
wear sweaters and heavy skirts and dresses, but I can’t because it’s 90 degrees
outside. This outfit represents the color palette I started out the summer
wanting to spread across my entire summer wardrobe, but didn’t have the
dedication (or cash) to fully follow through with.
The first week of classes has officially ended, and I can
already tell Tuesday and Thursday are going to be my favorite days. For one, Thursday
is when the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, published by the CDC) comes
out, and I’m always excited about that. The main reason, though, is my schedule
those days. It’s light on work for my job, but heavy in classes. I start out
with biochemistry, then global maternal and child health (global MCH as I’ll
abbreviate), and end the day with field epidemiology. Basically, the three
topics I’m most excited about this semester I get to experience in one day.
On the first day of global MCH the class ventured outdoors
to the nearby farmer’s market to listen to the local opera give a preview of
their season. The professor intended this as a way to encourage us to think
outside the box, and oh boy did I love it. The opera isn’t my number one
favorite thing, but I’ve been trying to appreciate it more because I empathize
with the struggle of getting an audience. (This particular opera used to have
month-long runs, now shortened to two shows per production.) The fact that
these performers were working outdoors in the heat at a farmer’s market in
t-shirts, jeans, and sneakers, really represents the effort the arts community
(at least the one in my city, where the orchestra performs at music festivals
and has free outdoor concerts where they play film scores) has been putting
forward trying to reach out to younger audiences.
Before I get ahead of myself, let me mention again that of
all things my two greatest passions are health and theatre. If I didn’t think
that becoming a doctor was the best way to offer up my talents, I’d be a
professional actor. I love theatre SO. FREAKING. MUCH. If you know me in real
life you’ve probably heard me rant about Shakespeare, or at least about
whatever musical I’m currently obsessed with. (Hamilton. Still obsessed with
Hamilton.) So when I say I empathize with the struggle to get an audience I
really mean it. But more than that, I believe that the arts should be
accessible.
What does accessibility mean? In the arts – and I also
believe in other areas, especially healthcare – accessibility means that a
service should be made available for all people to use, and if certain
allowances need to be made in order to help people use that service, then the
service provider should make attempts to make that service available. Because
that was a long, wordy definition, let me give an example.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the initial
training and orientation for caption theater, an accessibility service that
provides captioning for theatrical productions so that people who are deaf or
hard of hearing are able to appreciate plays. Think about it. How much of any
play – or movie if you’re not a theatregoer – involves not just talking, but
music and sound effects? How much would you be missing if you couldn’t hear
that?
Accessibility is one of the biggest reasons I’m such a fan
of Shakespeare. To me, Shakespeare is about the experiences of everyday people.
One performance I saw of A Midsummer
Night’s Dream really captured what I think Shakespeare should be. It was
performed in the back of a bar, a venue where a band would normally play but
where there’s a stage so small you can’t really fit an entire cast on it.
People were milling about, walking in and out – and sometimes, even through –
the production. Audience members were drinking and eating and interacting with
the actors all on the same level. The
best part? The actors had one rehearsal. Now, sure, they could’ve had a full
5-8 weeks of rehearsal and I’d probably appreciate that production just as
much. I’m sure the actors chose to do one rehearsal for a lot of reasons (time,
low cost, wanting the production to seem organic). Why did I love it so much,
though? Because that Shakespeare performance was accessible. All too
often I feel that people see Shakespeare as boring, ancient, and too difficult
to understand. Not so in this production. Seeing people shout and cheer on the
actors during fight scenes, and ooh and aw at the lovers during the romantic
scenes just screams Shakespeare to me. The people watching this production
might not have ever elected to pay money to sit in a theater and watch a
Shakespeare production, but they were there that night and they were having a
good time.
In healthcare, accessibility can look like a woman finally
visiting a gynecologist after decades of being afraid to go because of a fear
of being judged for her sexuality. It can look like an early and more easily
treatable – rather than late stage with poorer prognosis – diagnosis of colon
cancer because a screening truck visited a small mining town and helped
residents understand the importance of early screening. It can mean a child not
committing suicide because of cooperation between parents, child, and mental
health professionals in helping that child.
I give individual examples because I feel that makes things
easier to conceptualize. But think of it on a grander scale if you like. Would
physician suicide rates be so high if mental health issues were destigmatized
and counseling were made more readily available for physicians? Would we be still
be seeing climbing HIV incidence rates if providers could connect with those
most at-risk and develop prevention plans? Maybe, maybe not. But that doesn’t
mean that accessibility – in healthcare and in the arts – isn’t something we should
strive for.
FACT OF THE DAY!
RNA probably came first. Ribonucleic acid (not DNA, aka deoxyribonucleic acid) was probably the original form of genetic information, according to the RNA World hypothesis. Historically the argument was "Which came first, DNA or protein?" But RNA, the intermediate between the two, likely arose before either DNA or protein. It can be reverse transcribed to make DNA or translated to make protein. A ribozyme (an RNA with energetic properties) can be used in a way similar to an enzyme (a protein) to catalyze reactions that eventually lead to amino acid formation.
source: genetics, virology, and biochemistry lectures.
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