Transcript
VO: University Health Services psychiatrist Dr. Tim Cordes listens to messages from patients on his iPhone, catching up on what he’s missed.
More natural sound, fades throughout next VO
VO: The messages may sound fast, but for Cordes, who is blind, the iPhone speech software is one of the tools that helps him navigate his daily work. Cordes is widely hailed for his work in addiction psychiatry. He spent nearly a decade at UW Health as a clinical assistant professor before moving to UHS in 2019.
VO: But his roots at UW stretch back to before his time at the hospital. Cordes was a graduate student at the UW School of Medicine, where he made history as one of the first blind people in the nation to be admitted to medical school. At the time he was admitted to UW-Madison, Cordes was preparing an audio tape for a DJing job in Alaska.
SB: “I came to UW as a medical student because I got in. (laughs)”
VO: Despite being the valedictorian of his class at Notre Dame University, Cordes was rejected from eight other medical schools. UW accepted him following deliberation over costs of accommodations.
SB: “Folks were always very collegial and willing to help sort of think about how to problem solve, and I really appreciated that.”
VO: The school hired visual specialists to assist Cordes and provided equipment to help him access materials. Whether it was delivering a baby or learning to place a breathing tube, he says he devised creative solutions with people he met along the way.
VO: One of these creative solutions was a software Cordes engineered to help him describe complex molecules. He invented a computer software program that turned images of proteins into sound.
Natural sound: piano of “What Makes Us Human” by The World in Between
SB: “We actually used different instruments to represent different atoms. So oxygen might be an organ, carbon might be piano, playing doo doo doo … and that was the magic.”
Natural sound: piano of “What Makes Us Human” by The World in Between, fades out into next VO
VO: Beyond creating solutions for himself, Cordes has worked to expand accessibility for other individuals with disabilities. For example, in an American Association of Colleges book about accompanying students with disabilities, he contributed to a chapter about individuals with visual impairments.
VO: Cordes also tries to aid others with disabilities on a more personal basis.
SB: “People just reach out to me, and I try to you know, let people know and help out as I can.”
VO: While he says UW-Madison does a good job meeting accommodation requests, technologies like electronic records and other accessibility tools still need improvement in the industry.
SB: “It’s not an automatic slam dunk and efforts need to continue to be put in.”
VO: Cordes’ hope is for individuals to approach people with disabilities with a people-first lens.
SB: “It’s that people you know, ideally should be able to do things they like that bring them enjoyment that they’re capable of. And that’s it and then the other stuff is just details, or window dressing.”
VO: Erin Gretzinger, reporting