Diagnosis – Radio Lab

For some reason I didn't get to hear all of this episode in one sitting. I ended up downloading it and listening in chunks, to a slightly distorted and over-length version. 

 

The first half took a second listening. It worked very well on the second listen, and superbly on the third. The first time round it somehow didn't move quite right – the stories somehow didn't have enough followability – be it the right mix of liner content, presenter interaction, sense of direction in the listener, whatever. The flat presentation style of the pathology story has been switching me off of late. Ah, did I call it the pathology story? Coz that's not what it started as, it was pancreatic cancer, right? And the medical professional became the proxy for the ordinary, non-medical listener. On the first listen, it didn't seem to carry off the elegant twirl. Somehow. It maybe reflected the human-mess-ness that sparkles when Jad and Robert are on opposing sides of what a revelation means. 

That was rich in the second half, combined with the some other rocks of the show (familiar voices, wonder, highly effective FX, and brain scanners). In contrast to the top, it takes a very common condition – depression – without squeezing the raw spots – sensitive spots, yes; raw spots, no. And inside it there was a sub-story that itself twirled – Sudden Infant Death to radiation to poverty to… diagnosis. It worked.

Emanuel's story: Some would say this was a bit too NPR. Fair to both sides, yet steeped in the mainstream attitude towards disability. In the US, that understanding is far better than, for example, in China – if you want see me fume, do a story that says "只有一个词：勇敢". My mother was a remedial teacher, and I've worked with an autistic colleague who was, if not undiagnosed, at least never stated his condition. Add to that hypochondriac bonding with a BBC studio manager, and I feel autism is a part of my life. Emanuel's story gave me facts about the condition and its status in the US, not an insight into the condition. 

But this story did give me an insight – into Emanuel's life and his family. That was awesome. 

A final note, on the start. A fun tale of domestic damage, dispute, and deception. Kinda pushes a lot of buttons, for a lot of people. Not a winner to stop people switching off at the top… but maybe that's just me.