Haley Gienow-McConnell

Contributor

Ms. Gienow-McConnell is a PhD candidate at York University in Toronto, Ontario. She is a specialist in U.S. disability history, especially deaf history, and cultural histories of disability. Her academic work is bolstered by her personal life, as her husband is deaf. She is a fluent ASL user, and ally to the Deaf community. Ms. Gienow-McConnell lives with her husband Patrick, and their daughter Louisa, in Thorold, Ontario, Canada.

Clio Gets Personal, Health and Wellness

I Think I Love You: Life, Death, and the Enduring Legacy of David Cassidy Fever

By Haley Gienow-McConnell • December 14, 2017

On May 30, 1974, 14-year-old Bernadette Whelan died after lingering in a coma for four days. The cause of her death? Officially, “traumatic asphyxiation.” Unofficially, according to the coroner, “a victim of contrived hysteria,” otherwise known as David Cassidy Fever. Twenty-six years later, at 14 years of age, my own life was saved. The cause… Read more →