"Your disability is uninteresting” - My Doctor

Written by Jessica Slice / Illustrated by Jenny Kroik

I moved to Canada in 2020 and have been waiting for a doctor to manage my POTS since. For the first two years, I paid out-of-pocket for quarterly virtual check-ins with a doctor in New York, but eventually decided that my primary care doctor could handle it. My EDS necessitates yearly echocardiograms to monitor my aorta and mitral valve prolapse, which I’ve been getting, but it’s become clear that I need a cardiologist on my team.

My referral to the one active POTS specialist in Ontario was declined because they are so inundated with Long Covid patients.

All that to say, when my primary care doctor in Toronto referred me to a local cardiology clinic in early 2025, the visit was a long time coming. I decided to try Uber Access, which provides wheelchair van rides, for the first time.

The trip there was easy, and once at the office, the receptionist helped me find an outlet to charge my wheelchair battery, which I had forgotten to top up the night prior. I charged my wheelchair in a back hallway near a copier, and every time someone came to make copies, my presence scared the crap out of them. This was funny.

Everything else was bad. I waited for 90 minutes to see a doctor, and when I did see him, he asked me one question: Has anyone in your family had a heart attack under 60? When I said yes, moved on.

He asked no other questions. He didn’t ask about my medication, my diagnoses, my symptoms, or my wheelchair. I asked him if he was going to help me, and he said, “I am not interested in POTS and EDS.” I asked what I was supposed to do about medical care, and he said, “Find someone interested.”

I left his office and went to the restroom. Unfortunately, two heavy doors prevented me from leaving the restroom. I called reception, sat on hold for 10 minutes, and eventually escaped the bathroom.

Outside, my Uber home canceled, and I received an alert that there were no other wheelchair vans available. It started raining. I went to the subway and the elevator was broken. On my way back to the building, a man pulled down his pants and exposed himself to me.

I went back inside, plugged in my chair again, and refreshed the Uber app for the next hour until someone finally accepted the ride and brought me home. The spot in their van that accommodated me in my chair was, fittingly, the trunk.

Jessica Slice is an author, essayist, and speaker and her book Unfit Parent is available for purchase. She also has a Substack: Whatever What Is

Jenny Kroik an illustrator living and working in New York City. She created three covers for The New Yorker Magazine, as well as numerous cartoons and illustrated stories for The New Yorker.