After two years of applications and interviews, and rejection after rejection, I’d started to believe the hate comments and messages – that maybe I really would never be able to work as a bedside nurse again. I was just about to give up when I had one final interview for a position on a Mother/Baby Unit at a level 1 trauma center near me. After so much rejection, I figured they would take one look at my disabled body and find some reason to turn me down. But to my complete and utter surprise, when I brought up my chair the response wasn’t what I was used to. Instead I heard, “I don’t see why being in a wheelchair would impact your ability to deliver good nursing care in the slightest…plus, you’re the perfect height to catch …”
Growing up, I was the girl who felt more at home in a hospital than anywhere else in the world. The girl walking around in her first white coat like she’d just put on a suit of armor, practices signing “Ryann Mason, RN” over and over when she can’t sleep. She watches medical documentaries and TV shows like most people watch football. She studies in scrubs “for good luck” and when she travels to a new city, the first thing she asks is, “Where’s the hospital?” Usually followed by, “Can we sit in the waiting room? Just to see what it’s like!”
So after qualification, if you would’ve told the terrified girl, standing in the basement wearing scrubs for the first time in her life, that in nine short years, she’d be in a wheelchair, I believe her first response would be, “…But am I still a nurse?”
I have lived through a lot in 9 years: surgeries, new diagnoses, loss of independence, divorce, a global pandemic, and rejection after rejection after rejection. But today, this woman did what so many doctors, hiring managers, friends, and strangers said she’d never do again. Today I started bedside nursing, a dream I’ve had since the second I had to trade in floppy legs for wheels. Today I did what I had been told would be impossible. With 11 million people (and counting) and an entire new hospital family behind me, today my dream came true.
When offered the job, I was STUNNED to say the least. I kept thinking “They had to have made a mistake,” and, “Maybe I misheard them.” So much so that I barely told ANYONE until I had my orientation schedule in my hand. But it WAS real and I didn’t mishear a thing. As of this Monday I will officially begin orientation for my new job as a nightshift staff nurse on Mother/Baby and the hospital’s very first RN on wheels. I still keep thinking I’m going to wake up from this incredible dream. I have to thank all my coworkers from my previous hospital for believing in me and reminding me daily that I am a strong and capable healthcare provider who just happens to get around faster than anyone in the entire hospital. I also have to think each and every single one of you all for showing me just how much of a need there is for disabled healthcare providers at the bedside. And last, but not least, I have to thank my girl Andrea*, for encouraging me, listening to me whine about rejections and prejudice in our field and reminding me constantly why we became nurses in the first place and why we continue to advocate for other disabled nurses like ourselves. This is just the beginning babe. Y’all pray for me as this trauma junkie learns a VERY different specialty! Stay tuned for more as I navigate entering back into the world of bedside nursing, ON WHEELS!
For those who supported me, online and in person, thank you all so SO much for your kind words, support, and outpouring of love. I cannot tell you how much today means to me, my future, and the futures of SO many current and future disabled healthcare providers. Today we have hopefully set into motion something that will one day become the norm. We have recognized that a person’s worth and ability to perform a job does not necessarily directly correlate to the way they get around this world. And this is just the beginning!
See my Instagram to follow more of my story! https://www.instagram.com/chronically_ry/
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