Twilah Hiari explores how the siloed and overspecialized nature of Western medicine can result in misdiagnosis and improper treatment. She explores how clinician biases regarding issues of gender, race, social class, education, religion and disability can promote a culture that dismisses the credibility of the patient’s perspective in favor of the clinician’s worldview. Twilah spent years being mistreated by psychiatry while an auditory disability that rendered her partially deaf and hormonal issues that impacted her functioning went overlooked. She has a B.A. in Philosophy and is pursuing education in Tibetan religion and American Sign Language.
Through writing, meditation, relationship building and quilt creation she has found peace, healing, and contentment. She lives in Kansas with her husband and three rescue dogs. She blogs about her experiences at http://www.athinkingpatient.
