5 Rare Medical Conditions - Suitable for Museum Staff?

The 'happy museum' is a relatively recent concept, underpinning this is the concept that museums can contribute to the health and wellbeing of society in general. What nobody has particularly researched is the health and wellbeing of museum staff and volunteers. Here are some very rare diseases. Are they found in your museum and do they sound familiar to you?

Cotard's Delusion
It is a very rare condition where a person actually believes a part of their body is missing, or in more extreme cases that they are actually dead. Sufferers spend a lot of time in cemeteries, or in museum stores looking for comfort and/or spare limbs. Medication can help sufferers or alternatively they can seek solace in Chapman Brothers artwork. I would particularly recommend 'Hell' (1999).

Foreign Accent Syndrome
This causes the sufferer to speak in a foreign accent even though they have never visited the place of the accent. Sometimes lots of different  accents or a blend of accents. This is possibly an advantage in visitor services or certainly as an extra in 'Allo 'Allo! Alas only extensive speech therapy will help in these cases.

Alien Hand Syndrome
The condition involves a rogue hand that acts independently of the owner's wishes or desires. Suffers randomly grab objects. This could be a common condition among museum designers judging by some of the exhibitions I've seen. Alas there is no known cure, other than transferring staff into the education department and putting them in charge of the handling collections.

Vampire Syndrome
Technically this is an extreme sensitivity to UV rays. Given that museums are a UV zone with every window suitably screened and every store closed off to the outside world this could be common problem in the heritage sector. There are treatments available but the only solution is to stay out of daylight. Thus the ideal job is as a museum store manager or curator. This could certainly form part of the museums' health and wellbeing agenda from now on.

Persistent Sexual Arousal Syndrome
Perhaps less of a problem in the museum world, but has been known to drive sufferers to suicide. Museums used to be a sex free zone, but nowadays every major city seems to have a sex museum - thankfully in order to culturally appreciate and understand this most human of urges rather than to earn money through the act (although that could be the subject of my 'Sustainable Museums' blog). Anyway, the condition is put down to hypersensitivity, which is a common trait among museum folk. The only solution is take a group of inner city kids around your most fragile displays. That will surely turn give suicidal thoughts towards a more murderous turn.


There you have it. These rare diseases can find a home in museums and may even be appropriate as a place for a new form of volunteering convalescence. So as local authority museums try to find their niche within government agendas I urge you to think 'health'.