Born Without an Eye | Unilateral Anaphthalmia & The Disability Spectrum
Episode description
What happens when you’re born with a medical anomaly so rare that doctors treat you like a "cluster of defects," but you grow up feeling completely able-bodied? This week, the boys sit down with Kayla, who was born with unilateral anaphthalmia. Which is a fancy way of saying she was born without one of her eyes. But the "missing eye" is actually the least wild part of this story. Kayla takes us deep into the "Wild West" of 90s medicine, where she underwent six major facial surgeries between the ages of six months and ten years - all without anesthesia because doctors back then didn't think babies could feel pain. (Spoiler: They definitely can). We dig into the "cutthroat" nature of the disabled community, the struggle of being "not disabled enough" for resources but "too different" for the able-bodied world, and how a "that really emo haircut" became the ultimate survival tool.
You can watch this entire episode over on YouTube!