The GMC and medical students with disabilities

Students with disabilities have gone to medical school in the United Kingdom for many years--certainly, to my knowledge, as far back as when I was a medical student. This continues to be the case and an informal (and anonymous) survey that I carried out in 2002 confirmed that students with a wide range of disabilities are currently in our medical schools. Although dyslexia tends to be by far the most common disability, many students with difficulties associated with mobility, hearing, or vision successfully progress through the course.

Despite the reality of the situation, there is a belief that the General Medical Council (GMC) stands in the way of such students getting into medical school in the first place. We don't and the law wouldn't permit us to even if we wanted to. The purpose of this brief article is therefore to explain the GMC's position with respect to students with disabilities applying to medical school.