Elizabeth Caldwell, a junior genetics major, uses a sticker-covered cane to walk across campus every day. In the same way some students express their identity by decorating their notebooks and computers, Caldwell decorates her cane. She wants others to know she needs the cane because she lives with a permanent physical disability, and she’s proud of it.
At 14 years old, Caldwell was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a disorder affecting the connective tissue in her body, the glue meant to hold her body together.
“It affects every major system of my body,” Caldwell said. “It causes chronic pain, frequent dislocations and joint instability. Those are the main reasons I have to walk with a cane.”
“As children, when we see someone with a disability, we are taught not to stare. And as we get older, the unintended consequence is not to interact at all.”
Although some aspects of her life look different due to her disability, Caldwell still enjoys hanging out with her friends, misses home sometimes, is dedicated to her studies and struggles to find parking on campus, just like your typical college student.
According to Caldwell, misconceptions about her disability can lead people to treat her differently.
“People without a disability don’t think they can be friends with me because they assume their lived experiences are too different from mine,” she said. “As children, when we see someone with a disability, we are taught not to stare. And as we get older, the unintended consequence is not to interact at all.”
Despite her condition being medically incurable, Caldwell views her disability as a big part of her identity and a driving motivation for her area of study, research and aspirations of becoming a doctor.
Last summer, Caldwell fulfilled a longtime dream of working as an intern at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, where she researched a rare, cancerous protein and found a drug showing promise for treating the disease.
Caldwell and her National Scholars Program (NSP) cohort founded the Tigers 4 Accessibility club, which hopes to shed light on disability misconceptions and promote disability inclusivity, physical accessibility and interaction on campus. In recognition for her advocacy and desire to pursue rare disease research, Caldwell was recently named a Truman Scholar, the fifth in the University’s history.
