Displaying Ability in Medicine with the Invisible Disability of ADHD (Dr. Kalaki Clarke)

Invisible disabilities account for more than 80% of all disabilities. In this presentation, Dr. Clarke will identify examples of invisible disabilities and discuss the challenges she has faced by the invisible disability of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Based on her success in both medical training and practice settings, she will share practical insight on how to self-advocate for ADHD accommodations that can also be applied to other invisible disabilities. By the end of the presentation, the audience will either gain awareness of the obstacles those with invisible disabilities must overcome, or gain a sense of hope for how they can demonstrate their own ability in Medicine.

Speaker Bio:

Kalaki Clarke, MD is a Board-Certified Family Physician and Volunteer Adjunct Clinical Instructor of Medical Education for the Keck School of Medicine of USC. She passionately provides care for individuals experiencing homelessness in Downtown Los Angeles on Skid Row with Los Angeles Christian Health Centers. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Biology from Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans and her Medical Degree from The Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Nebraska. After a non-traditional journey of medical practice, she completed her Family Medicine Residency at UC Irvine. Receiving a late diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) during training at UC Irvine propelled Dr. Clarke‘s enthusiasm as an advocate for mental health and ADHD. After training, she furthered her clinical knowledge of managing mental illness by completing the UC Irvine/UC Davis Fellowship in Primary Care Psychiatry. Dr. Clarke serves as an administrator of Physicians with ADHD, a private online group of over 1,000 members and participates in Stanford University’s Disability in Medicine Mutual-Mentorship Program DM3P. Dr. Clarke receives great fulfillment in educating patients, clinically supervising advanced practitioners and mentoring medical learners. Her message to all: “You can thrive with both struggles and success!”

Meeting Agenda:

• Introduction (10 minutes)
• Dr. Clarke‘s presentation (40 minutes)
  • Dr. Clarke’s story
  • Invisible disabilities
  • How to advocate
  • Activity: group sharing on invisible disabilities
• Question and answer session (40 minutes)
• Discussion question: What is the main thing those with invisible disabilities want everyone else to know?