Post by Admin on Jul 24, 2023 23:45:42 GMT
Mr. Magoo Vs. Daredevil: Are Blind ‘Superpowers’ Another Caricature?
A medical screening program in India reinforces belief in blind "superpowers." What does the science say?
www.truthdig.com/articles/mr-magoo-vs-daredevil-are-blind-superpowers-just-another-caricature/
In 2005, the German government instituted a national mammography screening program that required women seeking a scan to visit one of the specialized, state-sanctioned mammography facilities scattered around the country. Realizing the new program would take a big bite out of his private practice, Duisburg-based gynecologist Dr. Frank Hoffmann developed a workaround that wouldn’t violate the new regulations.
After setting up a nonprofit he called Discovering Hands, Hoffmann began training blind women to conduct breast exams. Graduates of the training program were certified as Medical Tactile Examiners, or M.T.E.s, and took jobs at area hospitals. Along with offering early breast cancer screenings to women who might not be able to travel to one of the state-run clinics, the program also provided blind women with a steady income. Then as now, the worldwide unemployment rate among the disabled wavered between 75% and 80%.
The reasoning behind the Discovering Hands program was simple. A blind woman’s sense of touch is so acute that, with proper training, it was assumed she would be able to detect breast lumps much smaller than anything a sighted doctor could find — possibly even smaller than anything picked up by a standard mammogram.
After trademarking the name and patenting the training technique, in 2009 Hoffmann began licensing Discovering Hands franchises in countries where mammograms are not easily accessible, such as Columbia, Mexico and India.
The growing program in India has received a good deal of press in recent months, often taking the form of inspiring stories about disabled people making themselves useful in the world.
“Being an M.T.E.,” one woman told The Guardian, “gives me the feeling that I have a unique quality to do something that only I can do as a disabled woman.”
A medical screening program in India reinforces belief in blind "superpowers." What does the science say?
www.truthdig.com/articles/mr-magoo-vs-daredevil-are-blind-superpowers-just-another-caricature/
In 2005, the German government instituted a national mammography screening program that required women seeking a scan to visit one of the specialized, state-sanctioned mammography facilities scattered around the country. Realizing the new program would take a big bite out of his private practice, Duisburg-based gynecologist Dr. Frank Hoffmann developed a workaround that wouldn’t violate the new regulations.
After setting up a nonprofit he called Discovering Hands, Hoffmann began training blind women to conduct breast exams. Graduates of the training program were certified as Medical Tactile Examiners, or M.T.E.s, and took jobs at area hospitals. Along with offering early breast cancer screenings to women who might not be able to travel to one of the state-run clinics, the program also provided blind women with a steady income. Then as now, the worldwide unemployment rate among the disabled wavered between 75% and 80%.
The reasoning behind the Discovering Hands program was simple. A blind woman’s sense of touch is so acute that, with proper training, it was assumed she would be able to detect breast lumps much smaller than anything a sighted doctor could find — possibly even smaller than anything picked up by a standard mammogram.
After trademarking the name and patenting the training technique, in 2009 Hoffmann began licensing Discovering Hands franchises in countries where mammograms are not easily accessible, such as Columbia, Mexico and India.
The growing program in India has received a good deal of press in recent months, often taking the form of inspiring stories about disabled people making themselves useful in the world.
“Being an M.T.E.,” one woman told The Guardian, “gives me the feeling that I have a unique quality to do something that only I can do as a disabled woman.”