Cancer Discrimination and Bias

We live in a society full of bias which leads to racism, discrimination, fear and hatred. The media recently has reflected this with headlines full of racism, bias, discrimination, alt-right vs alt-left, protests, anti-protests, riots, deaths, fear, hatred and more. But it reminds me that there is bias, fear, and discrimination for those of us with cancer.We are born one way and learn about bias, fear, and discrimination based on where we start. With a cancer diagnosis, all of this is turned upside down and we learn about more bias, fear and discrimination based on that single word ' cancer ' .First, let me say times are changing and it is getting better for those of us with cancer. I met a young woman once who was diagnosed with thyroid cancer at age 17 about 1980s. Her parents were embarrassed that their family member (daughter) had cancer and never told her and never allowed he to have the appropriate follow up treatment, radioactive iodine. She has had multiple recurrences since. Times are certainly better but not perfect, as seen in today ' s headlines.For those of us with cancer, we face these issues all the time:Fear: how many of you have been avoided after your cancer diagnosis? All? I think so. Those are the ' friends ' who are scared cancer is ' catching ' . Or they do not know how to react to someone with cancer.Discrimination: Don ' t tell your current or any potential boss you have cancer or you will face discrimination somewhere along the line. " She ' s a perfe...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: bias cancer bonds discrimination fear of cancer Source Type: blogs