Disability Denial: A Life Or Death Issue
By: Damonte Rush December 6, 2018
In this investigation, I discuss the problems that evolve through discrimination in the healthcare field. I interviewed someone who has first hand experience with how the system often discriminates against people, as it did with her mother. I will be trying to get a better understanding of what this story entailed, and how it unraveled.
When going through this investigation, I would like to focus on why people may be discriminated against, why someone’s health may have a bad impact on their working status, and why it is illegal to fire or decline someone work based on their health.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that all people have the right to Social Security - Article 22
All people have the right to be free from discrimination, no matter what - Article 2
In this article, I will explain why these two articles come together as one.
chyra speaks out about her mother's wrongful death
In this interview, I talked to Chyra Davis, a student at Carver who has a powerful story to share. Her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, and was going in and out of the hospital. When she applied for disability insurance, she was declined. Year after year, she tried and was constantly declined. She developed a heart condition as a result of cancer treatments and had heart surgery. She had been in college to get a Bachelor's degree and then a doctorate, and she was a weak woman who wanted to stay afloat when hard times hit. So the question is: Why was she constantly declined? Was it discrimination?
First, do you personally believe that the cause of your mother’s death had anything to do with discrimination? Yes, I do, because she was going to college for her bachelor’s and doctorate before the illness really hit, and when she was at her weakest, her heart was failing, so for her to try to apply for disability year after year, and get declined, doesn’t make any sense
What impact did this have on you mentally, if any? I was basically the only child because my brother was never home. Many times, I went with my mother to court, and saw her fighting this case. This made me aware of what she was going through, and there were many times before she died where she would she would be in so much pain to the point that she couldn’t do anything, and that definitely impacted me.
Do you believe that your mother’s circumstances affect how people saw her? Yes, I do believe that it affected how people saw her. My father didn’t want to tell us that she had cancer, because he didn’t want us to worry, but it may have been obvious to people who were older that her health wasn’t what it was supposed to be. This could have been a reason why she was repeatedly rejected from the job.
Do you know anything about the place your mother was trying to apply to all of those years? The center was called PATH (People Acting To Help), and she tried every year, but was declined each time.
Do you believe that there is anything that can be done in the future that can make it so that this never happens again? I think that if everyone spreads the word, and speaks up for what they believe is right, no matter who disagrees, then we can stop something like this from happening again.
what i've learned
Through this investigation, I discovered what can happen in our society on a daily basis. This is an issue that mustn’t be ignored, and we have to make sure that as a people we do not falter and stay together, fighting against this issue until something is changed. This issue is not only a human right, but it is illegal for you to hire, fire, promote or demote someone based on their health status. For more information on the laws that protect you against this, check out this website describing why you can't be discriminated against based on health in the workplace.
looking into the future
As a student at Carver, I believe that there are many things we do daily in the school environment that breaks those barriers of race or health. No one is declined from school activity, as long as you can make your contribution to the school’s reputation positively. It’s easy to be oblivious to the fact that there are people out there who are suffering because they can’t get help or a job due to the fact that their race isn’t considered “ideal” or their health isn’t “up to par.” Our school environment promotes equality, and we are all considered equal in the eyes of our peers and teachers.