JABSOM Library: Library Updates

Book Buzz: El Deafo

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Monday, January 20, 2025 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

As future healthcare professionals, it is important to understand patients' diverse experiences, especially those with disabilities. Cece Bell's El Deafo offers a powerful, relatable window into the life of a child with a severe hearing impairment, making it an invaluable read for medical students.

In this graphic memoir, Cece Bell recounts her childhood struggles with hearing loss, her reliance on a bulky hearing aid (nicknamed the Phonic Ear), and how she navigates the challenges of communication, identity, and friendship. What makes the story even more impactful is how Cece envisions her hearing aid as her superhero tool, El Deafo, symbolizing her resilience and the barriers she faces.

Why You Should Read It:

• Empathy & Patient-Centered Care: Cece's journey offers a deep, personal look at how hearing impairment affects not just communication but self-esteem, social interactions, and the day-to-day experience of being a child in the medical world.
• Understanding Disabilities Beyond the Diagnosis: While it's easy to focus on the clinical side of a condition, this book emphasizes the emotional and psychological aspects of living with a disability. It reminds future doctors of the human experience behind medical conditions.
• Invaluable Insight for Healthcare Providers: El Deafo brings attention to the practical side of using assistive devices, how something as simple as a hearing aid can affect one's interactions with the world, and how medical professionals can be more mindful in their approach to patient care.

Whether you're preparing for clinical rotations or want to broaden your understanding of how medical conditions affect the quality of life, El Deafo reminds you of the importance of empathy, communication, and healthcare providers' role in empowering patients.

Interested in borrowing the book? Borrow it from the Health Sciences Library!

Check out our Graphic Medicine collection HERE!

Image Credit: bookspoils.wordpress.com/2017/12/16/review-el-deafo-by-cece-bell/